


Lover. Fool.

by anibrivity



Series: Sieged Elysium AU [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alvis is Ontos (Xenoblade Chronicles), Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Spoilers, Xenoblade Chronicles Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anibrivity/pseuds/anibrivity
Summary: - ACT 1 -Pneuma is contacted by Ontos.
Series: Sieged Elysium AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884208
Comments: 22
Kudos: 52





	1. Lover

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Return To The Sentient Genesis](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25723249) by [phendrifts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phendrifts/pseuds/phendrifts). 



> I have NOT done first person narration in a while PLEASE let me know if this was easy to follow. Pneuma is the narrator.

“....an you….Hear me…?”

  
“What? Is there someone trying to contact me?” 

  
“..y...Sis...Core…”  
  


My Core Crystal took on a fainted glow. I could hear the voice of...Someone. Someone calling.

Someone’s _calling?_

I’ve been practically alone for so many years. That’s what you get when you’re immortal. 

I didn’t ask for this. I damn sure didn’t ask to be the only one left, either.

It kept blinking. I was worried I was just seeing things again, but this time It really did seem like there was someone out there.

Whoever you are, are you in the same position as me?

Let’s see.

The light from my Core Crystal very nearly blinded me. In a single second, I was whisked from my cozy Gormotti tree stump and into a strange place.  
  


I say “strange”, but nothing is strange anymore, really. 

* * *

“You answered. That took a while.” 

Huh? Wait-

“People, uh, they don’t usually call me out of the blue much. Or ever, for that matter. I’m sorry.”  
  


You apologized again. Focus. 

“I very much understand. It is quite alright, sister.” 

_Sister? No way. You did not just call me that._

  
“I-I’m _your_ sister?”  
  
He didn’t exactly talk like he knew me, but I sensed something. 

Was I forgetting something about this boy? It’s been years since I’ve experienced meaningful connection. I _didn’t know him,_ right? 

“Pneuma, the years have been long. And no doubt the passage of time mustn't have been doing your memory any favors.”  
  


Don’t rub it in. Please.

“I can’t say it has. If we’ve met before outside of this crazy place, then it must have been so long since we’ve seen each other that I’ve forgotten you. My memory isn’t _all_ that bad though. I’m sure if we talked a bit more, I could come up with something.” 

My memories don’t disappear, but after a while, memories that aren’t actively being used for my original purpose get stored inside of a database until they _are_ needed again.

He still didn’t turn around, but he kept talking.

  
  
“Do not be alarmed. We haven’t actually met. But we were born together, making us ‘siblings’, in a way.”  
  


He turned to face me at last. The face on the other side of the deep blue jacket was a bit smug-looking. Calculated. Calm. All of the “cool” words. Clearly not without reason, I’m sure. 

His eyes were silver. Real cute ones, too. But more importantly, looking into them told me more about this boy than the words he actually spoke. 

He’s been through a lot.

“I’ll waste none of your time with this,”

  
  
I’ve got plenty. 

  
“My name is Ontos. I am one of the cores to the Trinity Processor, tasked with Administrative duties. We were separated at birth when an interdimensional phase-transition accident occurred. I’m using the Conduit to speak with you now. It is also how I am able to assume this appearance. I assessed from data pertaining to your previous relationships that appearing to you like this would make it easier to speak with me.”

  
  
I laughed a little. Does he think I’m some kind of baby?

It’s cute though. Stay like that.

Wait- hold on.

_What did you just say?_

_  
_ _  
_ “Ontos?! _That_ Ontos? The one Father mentioned all those years ago?”  
  


Keep it together.  
  


“Precisely. I am your brother core.”  
  


I thought you were gone forever. I thought I was the only one left. I thought for years that Father’s sadness, the world _he longed for,_ was my responsibility alone. 

“I can’t believe this. You were still out there after all...It’s really you...” 

I was more ready than you could imagine to shoulder that burden for as long as possible on my own. I _have_ been shouldering that burden.

I’ve been at this for millenia.  
  
_And you show up now?_

“Reconnecting with you has been a priority of mine for a while. My apologies for taking so long so speak with you. The Conduit is not an easy tool to tame.” 

Am I supposed to be happy? 

I smiled. I tried to, anyway. I thought it was fair to him, as it’s not like what happened was exactly his fault.  
  


“I-I’m sorry that we couldn’t be in touch. It’s been...very lonely, Ontos. Father gave all of us roles. I failed in mine, at first. I’ve been trying to make things better, though, little by little.”

  
  
He looked confused, like I said something in a different language.

  
  
“Father?”  
  
“You know, our creator?”

That made him look a little sad. I don’t blame him, Father wasn’t exactly a good man.

“You’re referring to Klaus, are you not?”  
  


Right, I guess you wouldn’t know.

  
  
“Yeah. I’ve always called him ‘Father’, though.”  
  


Now his look of sadness was more of a soft grimace. Did I say something wrong?

  
  
“The man who tried to fix a world that was falling apart, and elevate his kind, turned a spite-soiled god afraid of losing his grip on the very things he toyed with time and space to create, and nurture. Yes, I know Klaus, I know him very well.”  
  


Spiteful? That was the furthest word from my mind when thinking of Father. 

Father was a sad man.

Father messed up.

Father hated himself for what he did.

And control? I thought that he wanted nothing more than to make his wrongs right again. He never wanted to rule a world, he wanted a world that could thrive.

“What makes you say these things, Ontos? Why do you talk about Father like he was evil?”  
  


He’s almost glaring at me now. 

“By conventional definition, yes. Yes he was.”

“How could you say that?!”  
  


Something about his demeanor changed when I pressed him.

  
  
“Because Za- Because Klaus, who’s intentions at first may have been for the greater goal of salvation, was never morally sound. And eventually, he lost his way entirely. His own creations were nothing but slaves to him. They fought back; they wanted a world without gods. He couldn’t handle that.” 

Something else resurfaced.

Father was split in two when he created Alrest. That was around the time Ontos left us, too.

Could the Father that Ontos was talking about now be his other half? 

“Ontos...I can’t really understand why Father makes you upset, but I don’t think he was a bad man. What he did was reprehensible, but he spent all of his immortality trying to find a way to make it right.”

“You speak of someone much different from who I knew.”  
  


We were so far apart in this space, but for some reason I could hear him clearly.

Still, I got closer to him anyway. I hated the gap between us.

If you’re my brother, I should be allowed to do this.

  
“Well...Maybe the ‘Klaus’ that you and I both knew were different from each other.”  
  


Good, you didn’t back away. 

“I’m afraid I do not understand what you mean.” 

“Father told me half of himself was sent away to another dimension. It might be very possible that the Father you knew all your life was the half of him that I didn’t know.”

“They were different people, then?”

“That’s not _too_ far fetched, is it?”  
  


Nothing is too far fetched for us. You should know this. 

“Nothing is too far fetched for me, I suppose. I would like to know about this ‘Father’ you talk of, If you’ll oblige me.”  
  


Great. Now I’m giggling. _Of course_ I’ll tell you all about Father. 

“But before we speak of Klaus, there is something else I must ask you of.”

“What is it?”

“Er, _someone_ , rather.” 

Why do you sound nervous again?  
  
“Yeah? Go ahead, I don’t mind.” 

“Logos, our brother core, in charge of data compilation and Logistical function. You were not split from him, and yet when I tried to make contact, I found that he was offline. Did we lose him?”

Oh. Shit. Now I’m crying.

\--

_  
  
_

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As it says above, this work is inspired heavily from my friend phendrifts' "Return to the Sentient Genesis".
> 
> It offers Pneuma's point of view as she is the narrator.
> 
> PLEASE go and read phendrifts' fic if you liked this. It will be much longer than mine, and this "version" of the topic is more self indulgent than it is a cohesive narrative. 
> 
> Comment letting me know anything that stuck out to you as well!! Help me improve pls


	2. For Millennia

“If this is too troubling for you, you do not have to speak about it.” 

Idiot.  
It’s not my fault I shake when I cry. I can’t help it.  
  


“I-I’m sorry...I’m sorry. I’m very sorry, I just- It’s really hard for me to-” 

“Do not worry. I understand. Dry your tears, and we may address this later.”  
  
You _understand?_  
Don’t give me that.  
You don’t know a thing.  
You weren’t there, you’ve never been there.  
  


“No - No I-”

  
“I assure you, Pneuma, It’s-”  
  


You’re holding me way too tight. Do you even realize?  
Where did you learn how to embrace someone? Or console someone?  
  


“I had to kill him!” 

Please don’t let go.  
I can’t help it if I have to cry a lot.  
And don’t look at me like that. I’m not like the Father you knew. I didn’t think like he did.

“I-...I am sure you had your reasons.”  
  


I loved him, Ontos.  
I wanted nothing more than for him to stop his madness.  
I wanted to be with him so badly.  
So don’t-

“It’s...a very long story. Logos, he...I’d almost go as far as to say he ‘malfunctioned’.” 

  
Calm down. Wipe your eyes. He’ll understand if you just _talk to him_. 

“Malfunctioned?”

  
“The world...It’s people, and customs, and values, and politics...It all became too much for him. He couldn’t understand any of it. Every friend he ever made left him, or died somewhere along his spiral of hate and self-torment. He hated the world, and for a long time I couldn’t say that I loved it, either.”  
  


You’re close again.  
I’m...glad.

“We didn’t see eye to eye. I couldn’t help him for centuries. Once I was finally able to, when _I_ got a second chance, it was too late. He never got the second chance that I did.”  
  


When you sit next to me like this, I can feel like we’re actually siblings.  
Stay here.

“That...is most unfortunate. Logos could not handle his own responsibility.”

  
“It’s because...I wasn’t there for him, Ontos...I left him alone- he needed me.”

“Do you believe that?” 

I have no clue anymore.  
I just want to imagine that in some world, somewhere, where I didn’t mess up all the time, where I didn’t live on to think that I was the guardian angel of Father’s wishes, where I didn’t try being the hero, that I could have prevented those atrocities, _and_ kept Logos. 

“Do you think it was Logos’ fault, Ontos?”

  
“It was an error. He attempted to operate outside of his means, and it caused him to malfunction. That is all.” 

Is that all we are to you? Computers?  
Mindless machines?  
Ontos, are my feelings just what Father “programmed” me to have?  
  


“It is not the fault of any creation when it ceases to operate properly. Blaming yourself for something out of your control would be a waste of time here.” 

Shut up.  
There you go, blaming Father and his people again.  
Logos was a person.

  
“Pneuma…”  
  


_I’m a person._

“I said before that if this conversation troubles you, not to force yourself to keep talking about it.”  
  
I’m such a crybaby, I know.  
But it’s not _Logos_ anymore.  
It’s _you_ .  
  


“Ontos...Do you love anything?”  
  


There’s that look again. Do these questions scare you?  
They scared him too.

“Is that relevant here?”  
  


Answer me.  
  


“Answer me.”

  
“I do not have one.”

  
“Yes you do.”  
  
You have to. Please.  
  


“My answer may not be satisfactory. Are you prepared?”  
  


No.  
  


“Yeah. I’m prepared.”

  
“It is possible for me to grow attached to life. It is scarcely ever efficient for operation purposes. I am an Administrator; I see to it that the world acts in accordance with itself. If such a thing requires that I be involved with its inhabitants for a time, then I will be.” 

Would have been nice to have you and your special programming back home when he went crazy. 

“So...So you _can_ love?”

  
“Is that how you wish to interpret my words?”  
  
Stop answering my questions with questions.  
I don’t like you.  
But I don’t want you to let me go, either.

“Ontos, you can love things whenever you want to. It doesn’t have to be efficient. It doesn’t have to have a cause or an effect, or anything. Don’t you think you’d be much happier if you didn’t think so much about how every little thing can be perfect?”

“Nowhere did I mention perfection. I act based on efficiency.”  
  


Dammit. You’re _impossible._  
  


“Look, all I meant was- Is it so wrong to care about something beyond how much better it makes stuff work? Is everything you do so hard that it leaves nothing left for you to give to someone else?” 

“Pneuma, everything that I was created to do _is_ for the betterment of other things. I do not need love to see to it that the world goes on accordingly.”

  
“Don’t you want to be happier in that world, though?”

  
“Are you happier, sister? You are the core tasked with maintaining life, and nurturing the world’s spirit; it makes sense that you would seek to become closely involved with them.” 

You didn’t sound like yourself just now…  
Ontos, did you mean ill with those words?

“Well- I- Uh… _ugh.._ ”  
  


You had to ask.  
You’re a jerk.  
How do you expect me to answer that?

“...I apologize. I spoke out of turn. I know you asked me those questions out of genuine concern. I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss your feelings.”  
  
Now I have feelings.  
  


“You are a respectable person, Pneuma, and what happened to Logos was not your fault. I simply did not want you to go on thinking that it was. It seems my reasoning could not suffice.”  
  
Now I’m a person.

“I loved him, Ontos. That’s the only reason I think it’s my fault. It shouldn’t have ever had to come to that.”

You’re not glaring anymore. Your gaze is soft again. You’re listening.  
But now you look sad.  
  


“Ontos,”  
  


Such soft hands. Silky to the touch.   
Why do hands this warm belong to a man that speaks so coldly?

“I love you too, you know? We’ve only just met, but I mean it. The only reason I asked you if you loved something...was because I wanted to know if brother, if Logos, and I meant something to you.” 

You’re looking away from me. Did I upset you again? Or is there something else troubling you now?

“Pneuma, I contacted you, truthfully, because I need assistance.” 

“F-from me?”

  
“Unifying a broken world is no easy measure. The Conduit is much weaker than it once was. I don’t mean this lightly when I say that I can no longer carry out what I set forth to do on my own.”

Connecting a world? 

“I’m not sure I follow...What is it that you mean to do?”

  
“For millennia, I have searched for a way to close ‘The Rift’. Our two worlds are separated by it. With the conduit, I was sure I could do it, but with it like it is now, there is too much risk associated with trying that I refrained from ever attempting.” 

“You think I can help you with this? I’m afraid I don’t know much about The Rift, nor do I have any idea where to start on connecting our two worlds…”

“I see. Have you - at least been in contact with the Conduit?”

  
“I’ve never even seen it. I only know what Father told me.” 

You’re close again. 

“That is most regrettable.”

  
“Yeah. I’m sorry, brother.”

Your shoulders are firm. The fur along the neck of your jacket is rough on my cheeks, but I keep them there.   
I don’t want you to be afraid of me.

“I..I wasn’t fair to you before, Ontos. I didn’t mean to accuse you of not feeling anything without even considering your struggle. Goes to show how much I pretended to give a damn about you…” 

Those _eyes_ . You look almost like a warrior staring at me like that.  
Caressing my cheek like I’m some baby.  
Now I really feel like a prick.

“Self accusation does not suit you. It was I who reached out first.”

Idiot.  
There’s the answer you took your sweet old time to give me.  
You _can_ love.

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  



	3. Father

“Are you, perhaps, ready to discuss your ‘Father’, Pneuma?” 

Sure, weirdo, when you stop petting my head like I’m some kitten.

I’m not crying anymore, _dummy~_ .  
  


“Y-yeah, I think so. I can tell you whatever you want.”  
  


Again, who taught you how to cuddle? You aren’t even looking at what you’re doing!  
You keep making me have to swipe my bangs outta my face.  
  


“You suck at this.”  
  


“Pardon?”

Oops. Said the quiet part out loud.  
Laugh it off.  
  
“Nothing! What did you wanna talk about first?” 

There we go, finally.  
 _Ugh_ , but it’s all messed up now.  
By my lopsided tiara, you’ll pay for this later. 

“A good place as any to start might simply be ‘who was he’, to you?” 

Thank you, by the way.  
For earlier.

“Father was…”  
  


Father was…

“Well- to me, at least, he was…”  
  


He was…  
  


“...someone who lived through endless conflict, through endless suffering, that the humans of his time endured, and looked for a way out of it.” 

“Is that all?”  
  


This is the part that-

“Well, no, there’s more, he...”

\- makes me sad.

“One day, that thing appeared, The Conduit.”  
  


But, Ontos…

“And, honestly, you know more about the thing than I probably do, hehe. But…”  
  


Are you and Father…  
  


“Before he found The Conduit, Father told me that he had lost faith in people. He lost faith in his world.”  
  


Hm...Nevermind.  
  


“This much I am aware of. Klaus, during the phase-transition, and at...other points, had imparted some of his memories unto me.”  
  
Oh?

“I see, I can speed things up a bit, then. So…”  
  
Memories, huh.   
There's that soft grimace again.  
  


“When Father found The Conduit, he told me it was a breakthrough for him. Strange, new, parallel worlds...they existed! He wanted to know more about them. He believed The Conduit could connect his world and other worlds. But then…”  
  


“The conflict began.”  
  


Ah. So you know this part too.  
  


“Mhm. Yep. So Father began focusing more on The Conduit. He didn’t believe the humans could win. The Conduit became not a tool for finding those other worlds, but…”  
  


“To ‘save’ his own.”  
  


Oh, stop it. “Sister” doesn’t mean you get to finish my sentences. Yet.  
  


“He told me it was this ‘Divine Thing’, and that it was the only way to save them from that unwinnable battle. So-"

“With the power of The Conduit, that divine tool, he birthed a new world, which was to be a step closer to the salvation that-”

You did it _again_ .  
  
“Hey!”  
  


Shut up.  
  
“I - was not - finished!”

“...Continue, uninterrupted.”

Ha. Sisters _bite._  
You should see the look on your face.

“Father tried to recreate all of the life that once existed in his world. He started over from scratch, basically. First it was the Cloud Sea...and then the Titans. Which, then those guys made all kinds of things, over _generations_.”

“...”

Oh.

“At one point, there was so much life, when Alrest was still around. Now, Alrest wasn’t perfect by any measure...but there was a time when it thrived. There were so many Titans, and those Titans had all walks imaginable on their backs. They carried the weight of the world.” 

You’ve gone all quiet now.  
But, hey, you at least look a bit more interested.  
  


“Honestly, it wasn’t so bad, but Alrest had a critical flaw.”  
  


“...?”  
  


“The Titans...they started to die. The people who relied on those Titans for everything...began to lose their very homes. It got so bad to the point that people had to start- well,”  
  
Remembering is so hard.  
  


“to start fighting each other. Father told me that the world he created would eventually be trapped again in the vicious cycle that he tried to leave behind in his old world. This was Father’s ‘failure’.”  
  


Don’t cry. You’re much stronger now.

“He tried using divine power he didn’t understand. He gave up _everything_ to provide his world a second chance. But when he realized that it wasn’t going to work out, he resigned himself to solitude. He let the course of his ‘sin’, that’s what he called it, play out until the bitter end.”  
  


Now you look intrigued. Is this different from how you knew him?

“Father told me he wanted nothing at that point but to see his ‘punishment’ through. He _wanted to die._ ” 

Okay, you don’t need to be _this_ quiet…

“He did die, when his other half died, I mean. But when it happened it was...different.”

Ontos…

“...”

  
“...”  
  
Say _something._ _  
_  
“...Pneuma?”

  
“Well…? Aren’t you going to ask me _how?_ ”

  
“I was admonished earlier for speaking without being spoken to. Rather sharply, I might add.”

Urgh. Now you’re just being mean. You know I didn’t say it like that.

“Don’t mock me, Ontos. Of course you can talk, silly. But you have to wait your turn.”

  
“Is this my turn, then?”  
  


Oh, _you._  
  


“Agh! Pneuma?!”  
  


Stupid. I’ll pull on your ears again if you don’t stop being a smartass.

“I _just_ asked you to ask _me_ a question, what do you think?!” 

“*sigh*...And what about Klaus’ death was different?”

You’re _so_ doing this on purpose.  
I’m gonna smack you. Be nice.

“Father was happy.”

All that smugness just vaporized.  
  


“Pneuma? Are you telling the truth?”

“Mhm. Sure am. Father...he got to see what became of his dream. He met them, and then he saw that the things he created were worth believing in during his final moments.”

“And? Was there anything else?”  
  
Look at you now, all wide-eyed.  
  


“He began to trust his creations. Alrest...Alrest didn’t make it in the end. But,”  
  


Words I’ll never forget.

“he gave us the gift of a brand new world: Elysium. He hoped that we would go on to protect it, and eventually, _somehow_ make his wish come true. He gave me his blessing before dying - words I’ll never forget...”  
  
 _Make me proud._  
  
 _“‘Make me proud.’”_

Your fist...why is it clenched now?  
You look at your fist like something is bothering you.  
Ontos…

“Pneuma.” 

Did you hate Father?

“Yes?”

“I briefly mentioned this previously, but Klaus was a very different man to me than he was to you.”

Please, Ontos, tell me.

“Uh-huh?”

“From an endless sea, two great Titans emerged. These Titans...were locked in a perpetual battle.” 

“That's awful. The Titans of my world never directly fought each other.” 

The Titans lived peacefully, in blissful ignorance.

Well, Gramps didn’t, but he’s getting much deserved rest now.

Still, even if the Titans themselves didn’t fight, their inhabitants surely did.

“Much in contrast to the Titans of Alrest, _our_ Titans did not possess free will. One Titan was constructed of biology. Nature. The other was of machine. Though, do not be mistaken, my sister, both Titans were very much living creatures.” 

“They were alive, but without free will?”

  
“How should I explain this…”  
  


I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you to say the Titans were alive.  
 _You didn’t believe a thing you said about Logos, did you?_

“The Titans were alive because there were things living on them. The one of nature was home to creatures very much like humans, among other species’. The mechanical one housed ‘mechanical beings’.”

“Machine lifeforms?” 

I’ve come across machines, sure, but not ones that I’d consider “alive.”  
Hmm...actually. That’s a lie.  
 _She_ was alive...Artificial or not, _she absolutely was alive_. 

“Yes. They were called-...Pneuma?”  
  
Shit. I miss you.  
All of you.

“*sniffle*...No, I-I’m okay…Continue, Ontos.” 

“Alright.”

I’ll just need your shoulder again, if that’s cool with you.

  
“The Machina lived on the mechanical Titan. The Homs, which were like humans, lived on the biological Titan. This world was peaceful, for a time. Eventually, however, the Titans were used as weapons against each other.”

  
“Did the Homs and the Machina not get along?” 

“They got along favorably enough; that is, until their ‘rulers’ became...involved.” 

I think I see where this is going.

“Who were those ‘rulers’?” 

Yep.  
It’s all over your face.  
Please, take your time, Ontos.  
  


“The metallic Titan was governed by a Machina goddess named Meyneth. The other…,”

  
“...Was Klaus, wasn’t it?” 

“Oh?”

Huh?

Oh.

“What is this now? I do believe just a little while ago I was being scolded for cutting my sister off while she told her age-old tales.”  
  
Ugh.  
You’re definitely a jerk~.  
You wanted me to do that.

“Aw, quit it. That was one time! I’m gonna pinch you again!”

  
“Alright, alright, settle down.”  
  


You did that to make me feel better.  
  


“Yes. It was Klaus who ruled over the Titan of nature.”

But I can see that you’re hurting now, too.

“Klaus, much like in your reality, was like a god; the man even considered himself as one, above his own creations. In a previous time, he exercised restraint, allowing those of their biological Titan homeland to thrive, and grow. He also considered Meyneth to be a friend.” 

“What went wrong? Why did he and Meyneth start fighting?”

  
“...Hatred.”

You’re grimacing again.

“And possibly fear, too. Zanza, who saw himself as above his creations, became spiteful, and jealous, of the harmony and joy Meyneth attained _amongst_ hers.”  
  


Zanza?  
  


“Zanza?”

  
“My apologies. That is what the Klaus of my world referred to himself as.” 

You’re squeezing my hand a little hard.  
But it’s okay.  
Keep relying on me.

“Klaus became ridden with spite. He created a weapon, The Monado, and unleashed that weapon on his friend.”

Monado, huh.

“Meyneth fought back with a Monado of her own, and the rest is history. The wars they waged on each other were long and arduous, the only end in sight being the other Titans’ death.”

It doesn’t sound like Meyneth deserved what happened to her.   
Father, why?

“I myself served under Klaus. I was a 'disciple', tasked with observing the life of Klaus’ Titan home, and...keeping them in check.”

Brother...you’re-

“A magnificent scheme, it was. Klaus utilized me, and his other disciples, to preserve the true balance of that Titan: sustaining his life energy.”

“Life energy?”

  
  
You’re…  
  


“His life force was directly linked to his Titan. The beings he gave birth too, were in truth meant to sustain his continued existence. They were like his cells. And it was my duty to make sure they ‘returned’ back whence they came, replenishing that life energy.”

“By ‘return’, you mean-”

“Yes, and that went on for a long time. It is difficult to oppose a god.” 

Ontos.  
You’re…  
  
“Though I always prioritized my ultimate purpose of administration, the control Klaus, as Zanza, had over that world, was a great one. It took me a while yet, over much hardship, to seize the opportunity that world- Ugh. Hmm?”

Hey.

“...You’re crying.”

Hands off that face. I’ve got you.

“Heh. I suppose I am not above the troubles associated with recounting my past, even after all of these years.”

I’m so glad you’re with me, Ontos.

I’m so glad I’m here now.

You’ve suffered alone. I know you have.  
Well, you won’t have to while we’re allowed to be together like this.

  
  


  
  
  


  
  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  
  


  
  
  
  


  
  


  
  
  



	4. Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is in this chapter that i introduce the AU of this fic concerning Pneuma and her trials with Elysium.  
> 

\-- _Elysium, 51XX --_

_\-- 1 Year Ago --_

  
  


I don’t count the days anymore.  
It hasn’t stopped.  
Not really, anyway.  
  


_“Yaaaaaah!!!”_ _  
  
_

The very, _very_ few times that I have driven them out have never lasted.

“A-Agh!”  
  


Heh. That hurt.

My breathing isn’t quite right now.  
You got me good. Was that a rib?  
I don’t care anymore.  
I stumble, a bit, like all the other times I’ve been struck.

But, also, like all the other times, I strike back.  
My sword’s blazing green ether simmers on the inside of it’s cold, black, mechanical body.   
I shove the emerald-coated steel further in, just to be sure.   
The stab mark deepens. My fingers tremble.  
It starts to twitch. It’s red eyes go dark. It hits the ground, sliding clean off my blade.  
Like all the other times.

A few more descend. 

You all look the same, you know that?  
One. Another. The next. The last one.  
Cold metal and parts topple and slam.  
All sprawled out in front of me.

I ask myself the same question.  
_How many has it been?_  
I don’t answer. I don’t have one. In fact if I knew the number, I’d probably go crazy.

“...It’s been a little while without another one. I think that’s all of them for today...Heh.”

Am I giggling?   
Why am I still looking at the Artifices?

“Hehe…”  
  


Stop. Stop that.  
  


“Haha. Heh. _Ugh-_ ”

There’s the tears again.  
Stop looking at the bodies, Pneuma.

“Angel! Miss Angel!”

Stop it. Stop.  
Look at _anything else._ _  
  
_

“Miss Angel!”

A child…? And that voice?  
It can’t be-

“I didn’t mean it! I swear! Please don’t be mad!”  
  


_Dammit. Snap out of it! Stop! Can you not hear her?!_

“Huh?! Who’s there?? Who is-”  
  


Aren’t you…

“Miss...Angel-”

Myriam?   
The child from Fonsett...  
  


“Myriam?! I thought that voice sounded familiar...What are you doing here?!” 

I hope she can’t notice this wound.

“*sniffle* I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Miss Angel! I-”  
  


You’re scaring her. Go comfort the poor kid.  
Stop giving that cold stare.

“Hey! Hey...It’s okay. It’s just me, and I’m not angry with you, either. Myriam, calm down.”  
  


That’s it.  
Smile.  
She’s always looked up to you.  
  


“*sniffle* O-okay...It’s just, I wanted to see you again, Miss Angel. You’re never home.”

Oh. Right. Home.

“I’m very sorry, Myriam. I know I don’t come to visit Fonsett as much anymore...but still, _what have I told you about trying to cross the barriers?_ Only I am supposed to be here. You know this.” 

_Dammit. This wound is starting to hurt._

“You’re my hero, Angel. I just missed you…I know it’ll make my parents really mad…” 

Hero? You’re funny.  
This weakling in front of you is your hero?  
Pick better idols, kid.  
  


“Your parents aren’t the only ones who would be upset, Myriam. It’s not safe out here in The Center. I put those barriers up to protect all of you, until I can make those scary things go away for good.” 

If only I actually knew how.

“Mhm...I know. I misbehaved and worried you...I was selfish. Please forgive me.” 

Don’t lose your smile.  
You’ll take care of that wound in a second.  
_Ngh. Ow_.

“Don’t worry~, I forgive you. It’s alright, you just made a mistake. And you know what- I _should_ be coming home more, you’re right. I just...I don’t know when It’s safe to do that.” 

“Uh...Miss Angel…”  
  


_Owww. Ow. Ow._

“Y-yes, M-Myriam?” 

  
“I- I brought you these.”  
  


Huh?  
  


“Those are…”  
  


“I made them myself! Just for you! You always fight so much, but you’ve gotta eat, too! I thought that something sweet would make you less sad all of the time.”  
  


Sugar Cookies.  
Sweets.   
Dammit. I haven’t seen or tasted these in so long.  
Myriam, bless you.  
  


“...I-..I love sweets. How did you know? These are wonderful! They’ll cheer me right up!” 

The people surviving on Elysium are always giving me things I don’t know what to do with.  
I get that they love me, for better or worse.  
But a lot of it just collects dust in my home that I never visit.  
It feels...so nice to get something that I like.   
Even if I may not deserve it.

“It was my first time! Miss Angel, please, can you try one?”  
  


“These look delicious, Myriam, but…”  
  


You _cannot_ stay here.  
  


“I’ll have one _after_ you get back home. Take my hand. We’ll go back across the barrier together, okay?” 

“Aw...Okay. I understand. I know it’s super dangerous here. But it’s not so scary if you’re coming back with me.” 

“Just for you, I’ll even come and say hi to everyone again.”  
  


The people that love me.  
The people that I fight for in this dying world.  
The people I cling to. For Father. For Rex. Logos. Everyone.  
  


“Really?! You mean it?”  
  


“Yup! Come on, let’s hurry.”  
  


Myriam. It’s little gestures like this that bring me back to reality.  
Helps me remember why I’m still here.

* * *

_\-- Present day, 51XX --_

  
  


“How are you feeling now, Ontos?”

“I am much better, Pneuma. Thank you.” 

Nothing beats a lap-pillow, does it?  
You had better cherish this.  
I don’t do it for just anybody. 

“If you say so. And, umm...Can I hear the next part of your story?”

No way! You can’t try to leave my lap just like that.  
I didn’t get the chance to mess _your_ hair up yet.

“Yes, I was just about to get there.”

You actually laid back down.

“Alright.”

You said something before...About Father’s creations “fighting back”. 

“Zanza, the Divine, controlled the world for a time with an iron fist. However, as you know with his passing, this rule would not last forever.” 

“Wasn’t that because some of the people in your world ended up defeating him?”

“That was one piece. The other mechanism to Zanza’s demise was myself.” 

You killed Father in your world?

“Ontos? You helped them kill Father?”

“I didn’t hardly touch Zanza; however, I gave the fighters...a tool. Er, rather, the ‘tool’ existed within them the entire time. I made them aware of it.”

They had the power to win all along?

“Pneuma.”

  
“Yes?”

“When you...laid Logos to rest, you surely had help, am I correct?” 

It was more than help.  
It was...  
  


“Uh, yeah. I had friends with me. I wouldn’t have been able to free Logos if I hadn’t.” 

“I presumed as much. You are strong, with the kind of strength one can only accumulate through companionship.” 

It was the good times.  
  


“Oh, stop it~. Everyone's a little better off with friends. I’m not that special. You can make friends too, you know.”  
  


It was the bad times.  
  


“...There was a boy, a Homs boy, who had put a stop to Zanza using the latent power within him that I mentioned.”

It was the rainy days.

“A boy, huh?” 

It was the sunshines. 

“He knowingly wielded the strength of Zanza for much of his journey across the Titans. Zanza used him at first, too.”

It was Brighid.  
  


“Zanza’s strength?” 

“His Monado.”

It was Nia. Morag. Gramps. Dromarch.

“He used Zanza’s weapon?” 

Pandoria. Poppi.

“*nods* And it nearly consumed him. He thinly lost his own life to that weapon, thinking he could save his world.”  
  
Zeke. Tora.  
  


“But."

  
“But?”

  
“In a twist of fate, one that I arguably helped furl, admittedly, the boy realized that he had a power of his own.”

Rex.  
Oh, Rex.  
I hope the stars blanket you, out there.

“So he didn’t need the Monado?”

“Not at all. He needed his friends, and that’s what he used in the great battle.” 

I want to join you someday, sweetie.  
  


“And they won, yes? They beat Father all on their own?”

“...Maybe I gave them a little _extra_ push.” 

But I’ve still got a job to do for now. You understand.

You didn’t give up, even when it was tough. I won’t either.

“O-ow! Pneuma?”

  
“That’s _totally_ cheating. You rigged the slots! Father should get a re-do.”

  
“It is truthfully no different from your own victory against Logos.”

I’ll never, _ever_ , consider that day a “victory”.  
Logos was freed. That’s all there is to it.

“Yuh-huh. I fought with my friends to the end! Was that Homs boy _your_ friend, Ontos, or did you feel bad for him?” 

“...”

Shoot. No, I’m sorry.  
I’m sorry.  
Did I hit a nerve? Please tell me if I said something wrong.

“Yes. Yes, he was.”

Wait.  
You’re...smiling?  
_Smirking?_  
Don’t scare me like that.  
Idiot.

“I-I see...Your friend must have been very strong.” 

“His determination was like no other.”

“Sounds like this boy really moved you.”

  
“I...I wished to believe that he could break the cycle.” 

Break the cycle, huh.  
I’m trying to, Father. I’m trying very hard.

“And did you get that wish?”

  
“Without a doubt.” 

I’m still working on our wish.  
But I’ll succeed. I mean it.

“Hmm. Well, whoever you were, I’m glad you could be my brother’s friend for a while. And, uh, Father...he knew what was coming to him- but he wasn’t a bad man. Please don’t hate him.” 

“Pneuma?”

  
“...I said that out loud, didn’t I?”  
  


Well. I guess it’s not so bad that you heard that anyway. 

“It’s alright. If you do not mind the sudden change in topic, I’d like to remind you that I wanted not only to meet you in person, but to receive your help.”

“Yeah. I remember...I just, don’t really know what I can do.”

“There is not much we can do here, admittedly, and we _are_ going to be running low on time eventually.”  
  


Right.  
Of course there’s a time limit.  
Of course I have to lose you.  
Of course I have to be alone again soon.

“I apologize, Pneuma. If the Conduit were stronger, keeping us here wouldn’t be so difficult.” 

“I-It’s alright...I’m okay. W-we can still talk right now. Let’s just keep doing it.”

“Alright. There is one thing you can help me with. Tell me about your world, the world after Klaus’ passing: Elysium. I’ll be one step closer to figuring this out if I could know more about the other side of that Rift.” 

Elysium.  
The world we fought so hard for.  
The world Father trusted me with…  
I-  
  


“Can you...Can you go first, Ontos?”

“Pardon?”  
  


I failed, brother.  
I failed over and over.  
Elysium is a nightmare right now. Hanging by a thread.  
And I’m too damn weak.

“Didn’t your world change too, Ontos? Tell me about your world first.”  
  


I’ve been too weak to save it, for thousands of years.  
I don’t want to talk about something I don’t deserve.  
I don’t know if I’ll ever be strong enough.  
  


“Is there an issue with us discussing my world la-”

But I know you need help. I _will_ help you, but I need time.

  
“Please. A-aren’t we running out of time together, Ontos? We shouldn’t bicker over this.”  
  
Smile. Smile for him, Pneuma.  
  


“I understand. I will do as you ask.”

  
Thank you.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apparently xenoblade 2 takes place someone in around the year 30XX, so the date given for the current time period is meant to illustrate just how many years i meant by "millennia" in the older chapters


	5. Fool

“Father’s Titan...It crumbled?!”

For us, Rex and I, and our friends, I mean, Elysium was a gift from Father.  
The joy that he felt upon meeting us, no matter how brief, inspired his actions in his last moments.

“I hardly think it’s anything to sound surprised over; Klaus governed over my world- until he was defeated. If you remove the force acting upon a world, the world itself is surely to follow.” 

What you describe, Ontos, is Father not being able to let go.   
That world, that he worked hard for, was taken from him- in your time.

“Yeah, it’s not so surprising- the fact that it could happen, I mean. What has me in shock is that you sound so calm about it. I-I get that it was more than a few years ago, sure, but…” 

...Maybe because he didn’t deserve it in the first place. He neglected it.  
Or because he refused to let his creations enjoy the place that he gave to them.  
Instead, he used them for sustenance. He made you do that bidding for him, as well, brother.

“...What happens then? Your friend, he fought so hard- was that just it?” 

That sickens me to my stomach to think about.  
How long have you held back those tears from earlier, Ontos?  
How long were you Father’s pawn?

“Quite the opposite. The Homs became the new god, for a time. A short time.”  
  


Either way you cut it, Father didn’t value your world, Ontos.  
  


“Was he a better one? Than Father?”

  
“His time as a god was spent almost immediately after he was granted it. The boy did a single thing.”

I wonder…  
  


“Just one?”

“He made a wish. The wish for a world with no gods at all.” 

Rex.

Would you have wanted to fight Father, if he tried to control Alrest?  
If he used Logos, or any of us?  
If he didn’t approve of us? Of me?  
If he felt that we were doomed to fail?

“No gods, huh? This Homs sounds like a bold man. That basically means that if his world kept on going...He and his friends, they would have to be responsible for it together.” 

“That is precisely what he desired.” 

I only ask, because…

  
  
“Really now? He believed the Homs were strong enough without a god, then. That’s sweet, to place so much trust in your friends. Father was quite hands-off with Alrest, and I already told you that everyone started to fight each other when the Titans were dying out. I wonder, Ontos, do you think if Father intervened, Alrest could have lasted longer?” 

  
I think...that I’d still help you. 

“Disappointingly, I am not sure. I do not know what the half of Klaus that governed your world was capable of beyond the information I got from you.”  
  


Even if it meant helping to kill Father, like Ontos had to.

“Father told me that there wasn’t much of anything to be done. That’s why he gave up. At one point, he even accepted that Logos might destroy Alrest. I think he lost hope again.” 

Because if Father wouldn’t love me, or love our world…if Father hated us...

“But, Klaus did grant you and your companions ‘Elysium’, just before he passed. Was his faith not restored?”  
  


I know you would love me in his place.  
And you would love everything else for me, and him.  
You protected Alrest till the end, after all, even though what you wanted was Elysium.

“He...He never actually told me. Father only said ‘I am glad to have met you’. Being...just a little happy for a bit of eternity was apparently enough for him to let go of Alrest and try to make things right a second time.” 

“Is that so? Hmm…”

Jeez, thanks, actually. My lap was actually starting to hurt a little.  
And...It’s nice to look into your eyes when you’re beside me.

“Ontos?”

Oh. Right. I’m sorry, Rex.  
I feel crazy, talking to you in my head like this.  
But, believe it or not…

“Pneuma, this could be a stretch, but,”  
  


I still need you.   
A-and I know you’re resting...  
I’m sorry to have to keep bothering you like this.

“I believe it is as you said earlier. Klaus gave his world to you.”  
  


“...I guess he did.” 

You kept your promise.  
You took me to Elysium.

While I begged you to give up.  
While I gave you so much grief.

While I moaned as Pyra.  
And bitched as Mythra.  
  


“...Shulk was his name.”

“Huh?”

  
“My...friend.” 

You took me to Elysium anyway.

“Ah. I...I guess I didn’t ask you, did I? I’m sorry, Ontos. We’re supposed to be getting to know each other, and here I am letting you gloss over everything.” 

“Truthfully, I had no intention of revealing his name to you at first; this was for the sake of time. However, I’ve...changed my mind.”

Ontos…  
  


“Sister, when Shulk relinquished his power as a god, the Titan he called home crumbled. Normally, this would mean the journey was for naught. Without a ruler, the world could not exist.”

“But, you’re about to say it, right? That something worked out?”

  
“I could not stand by and let that happen.”

To fight for something so hard, only for it to end up in the same place, was something you experienced all too much. Wasn’t it?

“I made use of The Conduit to amplify my administrative capabilities. I ensured that bits and pieces of that Titan remained wholly intact. I took as many survivors as I could from the crumbling remains and conducted phase-transitions of their bodies and souls, making sure that they all ended up somewhere safely. Most of the people were taken to Shulk’s home.” 

  
  


You’re such a _poser_ .  
Ugh. I’ve kind of had it with you.  
Everything from before was bullshit.

“What?! Ontos~, that’s so sweet of you! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! The Conduit is a big deal, and yet you still risked using its power to see Shulk and all of his friends to safety.”  
  


You’re a sap.  
A big softie.  
Just like those hands, and these cheeks.  
And the silver in your eyes.  
Soft. All of it.  
  


“Heh. His wish, his _dream_ , it inspired me. To say the world needs no gods...To claim that the future is yours, and yours alone, I hadn’t considered. Once I did...My role became clear.”  
  


You didn’t mean it, what you said about Logos.  
I love you even more than before, Ontos.  
Really, I do.  
But...You’re still going to have to take that back.  
  


“Hehe. Hehehe~.”

“Pneuma?”

  
“‘ _Inspired you?’_ Ontos, when did you learn that word? Almost sounds like our boy Shulk _moved you._ ”

“You taunt me.”  
  


But, _really_ , Ontos.  
I’m going to make you admit it.

  
“Ontos! The administration mastermind! Cold as ice! Calculated, too? But what's this?! All those processors and rules in your thick skull were set aside when you realized someone needed you.”

“Oh, Pneuma…”

  
“Or, maaaaybbeee, you decided to stop playing the machine when you realized that _you_ -”

  
“Needed someone else? Is that what you had coming next?”

H-huh?!

Hold on, that isn’t how-  
  
“W-wh-Hold on. H-hey, that was my line! Idiot!”

  
  
Oh goodness. Stop that.  
_Do not start snickering._

  
  
“O-Ontos, you...You believed me all along, didn’t you?”

  
“...”

  
“H-hey...Why are you frowning again? Did I say something wrong?”  
  


No. No.  
Please keep opening your heart.  
  


“I-I’m sor-”

  
“Shulk has been gone for a very long time.”

Well, yeah, the years are cruel…  
But, why say this out of the blue?

  
  
“Pneuma, I have spent my time wandering the cosmos, only briefly returning to my world to reprieve from my objective. In truth, I took on this objective of restoring our two worlds because of the lesson I learned from Shulk, not just because of my duty as your brother core.” 

“I-I see...Was it his wish? Did you learn something from that?”

  
“Yes. I learned that Zanza, and my job as his disciple, was not all that I would ever have. My ‘role’ as administrator was, no, it _had_ to be larger than that man.” 

You learned to feel...worth.  
You felt worthy of coming out of Father’s shadow.

“Hmm...Ngh. Well, duh~. Ontos, you’re a person! Stop talking about yourself like you’re some computer. I know Shulk was important to you. He had to be more important to you than _just_ that lesson.”

_Rex_ was more than just a lesson to me.  
  


“...I always knew the day would come, where I would lose Shulk, and his friends. My immortality was nothing poignant to me...Or-”

“...Ontos?”  
  


Mmm.  
See. Now I’m holding you this time.  
  


“Or so I would think at the time.”  
  


But then you actually lost him.  
  


“Oh, Ontos...I-”

  
“Do not worry, Pneuma. You haven’t struck a nerve. I am telling you this on purpose.”  
  


Dammit.  
You’re talking to me.  
I’m so happy.  
  


“I have wandered the stars searching for a way to put our homes back where they belong. That Rift should not exist, continuing to separate us.”

  
“*sighs*...I wish I could do more for you, brother.”

  
“And over the long years; the thousands, I’ve often thought...back to that wish that set me in motion. I miss him.”

Ontos, you poor thing.  
You...You...  
Shit. If I start crying too...This will be a mess…  
  


“... _That’s why._ ”

  
“Pneuma, please do not feel like you have to cr-”

  
“ _Thats why! That’s why you said those things. You...You were hurting.”_

_Come. Here._ _  
  
_

_“You were hurting, Ontos. You kept that pain inside because you couldn’t see your companions again. You wanted to be back with your brother and sister, too. So you devised a plan to fix Father’s mistake. You’re no different from him. From me. From…”_ _  
_ _  
_ “No different from Klaus? And you? Pneuma? What are you do-”  
  
…

“...”

  
  
I’ve _always_.  
_Always.  
__Wanted to kiss my brothers on their cheek._

_  
  
_

“ _...You’re not any different from Logos, either. We all lost people. We all watched a world crumble and die. We wanted to make things right.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “...I guess It was naive of me not to expect this reaction.”

  
_“And you’re so stupid. Do you want to know why?”_

_  
_ “I think...I might already know.”

  
  
Dumbass.

  
  
_“It’s because, all this time, you knew we were all a family. You just didn’t want to say it. Well, you’re going to say it now. You’re going to answer my question.”_

_  
_ “...”

Don’t test me. I’ll get mad. I mean it.

  
“I was a fool.”

“ _...Huh?”_

“To think that I could avoid showing you who I truly am.”

  
  
Say it.  
Fucking say it.  
  


“Logos, he is as much a brother to me as to you. I may never know his face, or the shape of his heart, but you did. That is enough for me. I...think that I can trust you enough.”  
  
And?  
  
  
“...Pneuma, I do love you.”  
  



	6. Battle (Angel)

Breathe. 

Breathe.

“...N-no. No, I’m okay. I can do this now. I can for you, brother.” 

I’m scared.

“As you wish, Pneuma. But please, do pace yourself.” 

I’m lost.

“...I guess…*sigh*...Maybe I should start from the beginning again. But I’ll be quick, I promise.”

And, even after so much time.  
So much fighting.  
I still don’t know what to do.   
  


“Pneuma. I would like it if you did the same as I have earlier. Tell me of the person who was important to you.” 

But I know you need me for this.  
And, to be honest, I don’t have a lot of hope otherwise.   
Something to cling to is better than nothing.   
  


“Y-Yeah...I’m going to get there. You deserve it after what you’ve told me, so-”

Ugh.  
Breathe.   
  
“before we get to my world right now, I want to explain to you a little bit more about why I believe Father felt compelled to give it to us.” 

Father, you placed so much trust in me…  
You wanted me to make you proud…

“Alright. Keep in mind that, as well as my desire to know my sister, I am also collecting data. Allow me to ask you questions where applicable.”

  
“Yeah. Yeah. You don’t have to ask permission for that, Ontos. We’re beyond that point.” 

Rex, you wanted the fighting to stop…  
For everyone to be able to live in harmony…

“Ngh.”

  
“...”

“First…”

I thought we had it.  
Both of those things.   
  


“Lay next to me, dummy. Why’re you still sitting up?”

  
“I can hear you just fine.”

  
“Oh that’s not the point. Come ooonnn.”   
  
The stars in this space are very pretty.  
They calm me down.  
I want you to see them too, before we have to leave.

“Is...this necessary?”

  
“Yep. Cuz I say so.”

  
“...Very well. It is not like I haven’t already come to accept how affectionate you like to be”   
  


Your hair is still so soft.  
The way it curtains over your eyes is beautiful.   
Those front bangs protect the outcast you like to _pretend_ you are, don’t they?   
And it’s so hard to believe that this _isn’t_ what you really look like.

“Hehe~. We’ve come a long way in...how long?”

  
“Time does not pass for the outside world while we’re in this space. There is, of course, still a limit to how long this space can be open.”

  
  
But, you’re not hiding from me anymore.   
You’re not gonna play pretend while I’m here.

So move them. Let me see those eyes again.  
Or do I have to do everything?

“Ah. Shit. The limit. Right…”  
  


Much better.  
  


“We still have a fairly comfortable amount of time. Do not feel overly hurried.”

  
“No. No. I’ll just keep dodging this if you say things like that. Alright…”   
  


Deep breath.  
I’m ready.

“...Ontos. I met a boy, too. His name was Rex. I think...just like that Shulk you mentioned, Rex, he...he helped me.”

  
“Is that so?”

  
“Yep. He was able to make me realize I belonged in that world. I had a reason to exist. Oh, and lemme tell ya, I _did not make that easy for him._ ” 

Rex, I know you’re tired of this.  
How many times I’ve apologized for the same thing.   
Honestly it’s been too damn long for me to still be hung up over it.

“Your sensitivity, er, passion towards the concept of love. Was Rex a part of that?”

“Duh. There’s a ring under this glove. Two, actually. I almost never take them off.” 

“Two rings?”

  
“We’ll get there.” 

I’m sure you know it...takes me a while to move past stuff.  
  
“Before I met Rex, the world kind of pissed me off. I- I hated how selfish everyone was. How needy people were, but then also how they’d never share things with each other. It felt like everyone mattered to each other, but _didn’t_ matter at the same time. I didn’t get it at all.”

“Everyone is an individual, Pneuma.”

  
“Yeah. I get that now. But, and again this was before Rex, I looked at the world like...like how you look inside of a fish bowl. I didn’t try to understand why the fish were swimming, and not going anywhere, or doing anything. I just saw everyone swimming in circles, and thought that it was the most pointless thing ever. But...then I found myself right there inside of the fish bowl too.”

Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Addam.  
  
“And what did you realize?”

  
“That...It wasn’t a fish bowl at all. The people, they had lives. They had friends, and goals. They had families- families that didn’t make it, when I- _tch.”_

  
“Take your time.”

  
“*shakes head* ...They were, well, people, Ontos. They were all unique. And when I found myself in a little group of them, I realized how they all _did_ connect with each other. _They did_ share things.”   
  
I realized how they hunted together.   
How they hugged one another.   
How they shared stories over campfires.   
How they shared a weapon in battle because they had no money.   
How-   
  


“This was still before Rex, though, so I assume something was yet holding you back from fully accepting your reality?”

“Big time. You see, I was also brought into the world to fight ‘Malos’. That’s what Logos called himself, by the way. So that was my primary objective. So sure, I _saw_ all of the things I said before in the people I met, but it’s not like I cared too much.”

  
“Hmm…”

  
“Logos and I were fierce foes. Looking back on it, I don’t even know why. I think I just wanted...enemies. He was also destroying the world, so- there was that. But besides that...we were pretty alike at the time.” 

How they wouldn’t let me cook anything.  
How you, Addam, asked me if you could use my sword, instead of yours.

“You mentioned that Logos...went haywire. Might I pry and wonder if the same happened to you?”

“Well, shit, Ontos- I know I’m the most open book ever, but I’ve still got pages! One at a time.”

  
“You are correct, Pneuma. I apologize, that was a disservice to you.”

  
“...Don’t freak out, okay?”

  
  


Torna…

  
  
“It happened to me first.”

  
“Really? Logos, at one point, deemed his actions necessary?”

“I’m not even sure, he said that the world would be better off without humans in it, but I don’t think he believed that, cuz that’s what I thought too. I do know one thing, though...I know why we both ended up losing it.”

  
“...” 

“I was jealous, jealous of bonds. Of people having connections, and sharing things with each other, but then not with me. I was pretty undeserving of those things at the time, so go figure. I just didn’t realize it, so I got mad when people started making themselves distant from me.”

  
  


But honestly, that isn’t what really set me off.  
It was when you all _stopped_ distancing yourselves.   
  


“But then, _then_ , they all began to include me. I was an ally, and then a _friend_. I really didn’t understand that- I was the most hotblooded thing. But, they saw through what I was showing them on the outside. ‘I have friends now,’ I supposed.”

  
“Not very enthusiastic, were we?”

“How could I be? If you hate yourself, Ontos, all that’s gonna happen when people start saying they love you is that you’re going to get mad.”

Mad at myself. Not them.  
  


“I am well aware. Zanza reacted in much the same way at every instance of Meyneth desiring to reforge their bond.” 

“...Then it happened. Logos, he...he ended up taking one of my friends away from me.”

  
  


It’s so...weird, seeing you be upset by that.  
Logos hurting me hurts you too, doesn’t it?  
You don’t have to hide it.

“When that happened, that’s when I snapped. And I mean _snapped_. *shaken sigh* I-I don’t like to go into what happens next…”

  
“...We can skip over the next part, if it is too troubling.”

“N-No I- I can do it...I- _ugh…_ ” 

Huh?  
Ontos...you’re hugging me again.

“Wounds like those are better left closed. You are here now because you made things right. Do not tell yourself otherwise.” 

“...”  
  
 _Thank you._   
  


“T-Thanks...I-If you don’t mind, I’ll skip some boring stuff and get to what you really want to know.” 

“Alright.”  
  


My second chance.  
The only reason I’m still standing today.   
  


“Rex was a kind young man, and for the longest time, that’s all I really knew about him, actually, hehe.”

  
“That...is funny?”

  
“Well, no. But it’s _silly_. Silly of me, I mean. Honestly, thinking about how much he kept trying to get to know me despite me refusing to reciprocate him- it makes me happy.”

  
“Happy?”

“Yup. Because It’s one of the things you _really_ learn about Rex. He doesn’t give up, even when it’s tough.”

“That’s a familiar chime. Heh.” 

“Ain’t it?” 

Sooner or later, you caught up to me.  
I know I made you chase for what must have felt like forever.

“Do you remember when you began to desire a closeness with Rex? When you wanted to start knowing him better?”

  
“Yeah. It was when I met his parents. I realized that he really was committed to his goal, and mine.”

  
“Which was?”

  
  
Elysium.   
  


“Elysium. Though...It, at first, was for different reasons.” 

“Oh?”

  
“And I lied to him about mine. Actually, it’s more accurate to say I didn’t tell him anything at all about me.”

  
  
You’ve forgiven me for this, I know, I know.   
I won’t bug you.   
It’s just...still hard, ya know?

“Hmm…”

  
“Rex wanted to go to Elysium because he realized the Titans dying everywhere would start wars. He wanted to give everyone a home. I told him to put his trust in me, told him we’d go together, I told him all that knowing what I was really up to.”

  
“...”

  
“Ontos, I wanted to die. I wanted to go to Elysium to beg Father to shatter my core to pieces. I wasn’t strong enough to get there on my own, and since Logos was still around, I had to fight, and so I- I made Rex do the fighting for me.” 

And to think, you fighting all of my battles for me actually held _you_ back, which made us kind of pathetic in a scrap.   
Gosh, weren’t we hopeless back then?   
Are you laughing out there, too?

“Shulk’s overreliance on the Monado bears resemblance to your overreliance on Rex.” 

“Bleh! Don’t rub it in, jerk~. But yeah, you’re not wrong. It actually made us worse off in the end, so jokes on me. I’m a genius.”

  
“It happens.”

“ _It happens?!_ Ontos, you wanna try that again?”

  
  


Why didn’t ya process _those_ words? Idiot.

“It is as I said. Shulk made the Monado fight for him too. For nearly his entire travels, he let the thing basically control him. He only learned how to truly _use_ the Monado when he didn’t have it anymore. It was only then he realized what that weapon was.”   
  
Oh...I see where you’re going with this.  
B-But still-   
  
“...But, Ontos, wasn’t the Monado just a sword? I see what you mean, s-sure, b-but can you really say that’s the same as using a person?”

  
“Clearly I can’t. And I never would. The reason I bring this up is because: Zanza used Shulk.”

  
“Uh-huh?”

  
“Look where that got him.”   
  
Hmm…   
  
“Of course, you used Rex, but you both did eventually reach Elysium, and you are still alive. Something changed within you that did not change within the Klaus of my world.”

  
“...I guess.”

  
“Pneuma, your situation isn’t unique. You aren’t alone. It was another part of the same cycle of our family line, but you broke it when you chose to stand with Rex. Did you not learn to love?”   
  
Damn.   
Look at you.   
Giving my lessons back to me.   
Can I...Can I smack somebody out of love?   
Serious question...to nobody in particular.

“Tsk. Oh you don’t _get_ to be cocky now just cuz I cracked you wide open before~. You’re right, but only to an extent.”

“Go on.”

“It was less of a conscious decision, and more of a leap of faith. We - oops, ignore that, _I_ was tired of my own spiral of self-loathing and, well, hatred, despair, probably more words I can’t think of. That’s kind of it. I wanted a way out. I thought death at first was the only way, but Rex showed me a new way...I just took it, not really sure what I would get out of it quite yet.” 

  
  


And I ended up with the greatest gift of all.

  
  


“Rex sounds...persistent, and yet, dependable.”

  
“ _Rex_ was a big goofball. And the wildest fighter, with no caution whatsoever. And probably the sweetest thing on the planet. And the love of my life. And...well, well yeah...persistent, as all hell. He got on my nerves with that. But, also, I needed it, I needed his constant nagging. I needed his stupid pep talks. I needed his ‘Salvager Codes’. I needed- I needed Rex. I still do. And if it weren’t for him, we’d have never won Elysium together.” 

“Heh.”

  
“W-What’s so funny?!”   
  


You, Rex. I got you.

  
  


“...Rex was a lucky man, Pneuma.”

“......”

Oh god, nope. I have to cover my face now. _Goddammit._   
_You’re so stupid, Ontos._

I miss him.  
I miss all of them.   
But I miss him so much.   
  


“Putting that aside, I do believe we covered the bout with Logos and your conversation with Klaus to enough of an extent. I have what I need in that regard.”

  
“Y-yeah?”

  
“Pneuma. Can we discuss what became of Elysium?”

I snatch my hands from my face.  
All of the heat running through my cheeks goes ice cold.   
As I realize I can’t keep running. I can’t keep making you shelter me like this.

_Breathe._

“Right. Shit. _Elysium_ …”

  
  


  
  



	7. (Battle) Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pneuma begins revealing what happened in Elysium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I'd consider to be the most important chapter of the fic.  
> I really hope you enjoy. please leave feedback if you did!

“I...So, for a while after Rex died, I...I decided to remain on Elysium.”

  
“Hmm. Were you worried?”

  
“Well, yeah...I was worried. A little scared, even. But also- I think I just wasn’t ready to leave, ya know? Rex...he didn’t get a choice. But, his death, it was...peaceful, natural, all that stuff. It’s exactly how I imagined him going. And I knew I could follow him whenever I wanted, so, honestly? I don’t even think I was that sad.”

“Home must have been quite empty for you during your time afterward.”

  
“Well, ‘home’, to Rex, was within ‘Myself! Nobody else, and nowhere else.’ - that's what he told me. He was always one for adventure, so it’d make sense that he’d be an adventurous spirit like that.” 

  
I thought it’d only be for a few years.  
I thought I’d join the love of my life again.  
  


“And what of your home, sister?”

  
“Huh?”

  
“The question is not too difficult, is it?”

  
  
What didn’t hurt before hurts me _every day_ now.  
  


“Uhhh? Oh. _Oh!_ My bad, I didn’t clarify. Rex was my home too~. That’s kind of why his death on Elysium wasn’t too hard for me at the time. Normally, a family puts their heart into a home - like a physical house. But I always found home in Rex. When Rex died, it was like...home didn’t go away. It just ‘moved’. All I had to do was go to him when I was ready.” 

I might as well be trapped there along with them now.  
Trapped in that barrier.  
Like everyone else hanging on for dear life.

“I lived in solitude for those few years after Rex died. It was...peaceful. Elysium prospered. The Blades and the people - they lived in harmony. Over the years, the members of Elysian society...they started to forget me. Hell, even a few generations before the death of Rex, my legend, the legend of the “Aegis”- started to fade.” 

No, that’s wrong… 

  
“That is quite unlike you, I’ll admit.”

Much better to say _I trapped them_ , and my being there is me paying the price for screwing up.  
I deserve it. They don’t.

  
  


“Only based on what you’ve learned about me _so far_ , Ontos. But actually, I don’t mind solitude. Moreover, I think...I didn’t mind being forgotten by Elysium, either. When I decided to leave, It’d be just as peaceful as the years I decided to stay…”  
  


Or so I would hope.  
  
“O-Or so I would hope…”

  
“...Pneuma. _What happened?_ ”

  
“I-I’m getting there. I just need a second.”

Breathe.  
  
  


“Very well.”

  
“I-I know, I know. Time and all. So…”

  
I should have acted sooner…  
I should have known something could-

  
  
“...I told you I stayed behind out of fear, well, more like a small anxiety at the time, yeah?”  
“Correct.”

“...My fears came true. And they _came_ from the stars.” 

“Eh? Explain.”

  
  
I wasn’t ready for them.  
They were ruthless.  
They were vile.

“One day, during what was supposed to be one of my last calendar years on Elysium - I visited the National Elysian Space Association. E-Elysium was expanding pretty rapidly...What was once a big continent for everyone soon began to look quite small. I volunteered to become a part of a group to explore the outer stars for the remainder of my time. Earth, Elysium’s home planet at that point, didn’t leave much to be desired in the way of land- due to Father messing it all up and whatnot. We _had_ to try _something_ else.”

“You joined them in looking toward the rest of the Solar System.”

  
“Uh-huh, it was ambitious - but I loved them. I loved them so much and couldn’t bear to see them have to fight for land again. I didn’t want any more wars, so I came out of hiding when I learned of this problem, doing whatever I could. And things were _actually_ looking up! It was breakthrough after breakthrough, we even began decommissioning deactivated Artifices to be repurposed into ships for small crew missions, many of them. We had everything set out for us.”

  
  
I _finally_ felt I was doing something right.  
I finally felt like I could make Father proud.

“We didn’t take all of our mechs apart, though. They wanted to- but I told them no.”  
  


Kinda glad that I did.

“Surely you had a reason?”

  
“...E-...Emergencies.”

Ontos, you look like you understand me again.  
That helps.

“Shulk also felt a fear of his new world posing a threat to him.” 

“Heh. I feel closer to this Shulk guy every time ya talk about him.”

  
“He created an augmented replica Monado. Looked strikingly identical to Zanza’s.”

  
  
I can understand you, Shulk.  
I understand wanting to always be ready to fight.  
Even when you’re sick of fighting.  
Sick of battles.  
  


“Just like Fathers?”

  
“Maybe he was attached to the thing. It did give him some of his greatest strength in his darkest moments.”

  
“...Siren was the name of the Artifices that were decommissioned during the ‘Project Stargaze’. They were once weapons - Father’s people made them. I used to abuse Siren and it’s power, burning whatever I wanted. After... _that_ incident, I didn’t do that so much. I hated Siren after that - but still needed it. Shulk...he might have had the same idea when he made a new sword for himself in the image of Father’s sword.”  
  


There’s just...comfort.  
Comfort to be found in power.  
 _Even_ if that power is wrong.  
  


“Pneuma, your strides along with The Space Association were successful, correct?”

I can tell in your voice that time is running out.  
My throat is choking up  
But this is for you, Ontos.  
  


“Up to a point.”

  
“Did any actual missions occur?”

“...”

  
“Pneuma?”

“...*sniffles*.”  
  
 _No._ _  
__Come on. Get it together._  
  
“*shakes head*...Just one, Ontos. The very first. And they made me captain…”

* * *

_\-- Elysium, 31XX --_

_\-- Aboard the SR-enVoy-0001 --_

A familiar voice.  
Stern, yet loyal, guiding itself into the main deck by heavy sounding footsteps.  
  


“Good news Cap, we’re about a few thousand peds outta Earth’s orbit now, I’d say. It should be a little less than two weeks until we make it into orbit o’ B1-0N15. I know you had your sights set on that one; real promising, too. Ya got a good eye for this stuff, even though you only just became the Captain a short while ago.”

  
  
Guess a nap was the last thing I should expect with your rowdy bunch.  
But still - good news is always nice.  
I’m all ears.

  
“*yaaawn*...Oh, really? That’s great to hear~. Though, honestly...I wouldn’t say I did much. We sort of lucked out...A planet so much like ours, and so close-by too. It’s like someone dropped it right into the Solar System for us.”  
  


“One in a million, Cap’n. But I mean it, w-what I said earlier. You know your stuff. I’m sure yer’ll be tremendous help when we start investigatin’ the surface of that beaut.” 

So many stars through the window of the cockpit…  
Staring down the surface of a great, round world.   
Sheltered from the abyss of deep space inside of another one of humanity’s strokes of genius.  
It’s like I’m right back there again. Like all of that was yesterday.  
  


“Hehe. If you say so, Mitch. I’ve been around, I guess.”

  
“You _guess?_ Ain’t you like- well Prez, back on earth, said you were some “Aegis” thing, weren’t ya? Like all those other Blades, but- somethin’ real special like. Even got that fancy gem in your chest.”

  
  
It’s...actually been a long while since I’ve been called “Aegis” by anybody.  
Huh. To think an entire identity like “Aegis”, something so important to my old world, could _actually_ be nearly lost to time in this one.  
A-Am I giggling?   
It’s...comforting.

“Heh. Guess I’m still being written about in history books.”

  
“It’s a bit hard to find em’ these days, but they exist. Yer apparently a real ancient piece, ain’tcha?”

  
  
I...don’t know how I feel about being called “ancient”.  
Slow down.

  
  
“ _Watch it.”_

  
“W-whoa, Cap. I ain’t mean nothing by it- I just meant, well, nobody’s seen ya in a while. Now yer just up and back with us out of the blue. You used to be a big deal, yeah?”

  
“I had my reasons.” 

“Big deal”, huh?  
Not sure if that’s _overselling_ or _underselling_ me.   
Wish I could see the look on your face, Rex.  
  


“*scratches head* W-Well I guess I wouldn’t really get a clue bout’ whatchu’s been up to. But, back on Earth - you said you ‘loved’ us, n’ that’s why you were so adamant on helpin’ us do all this. But how come? Love? We ain’t barely met you till now. Ya really meant that?”

  
“Hmm. I’ll let you ponder it, Mitch. I sure didn’t come along for my health.” 

“Just the most elusive o’ the sweethearts, yea?”

  
“So I’ve been called.” 

“Well, any case - yer alright. Been a big help yet. I don’t think we’d be this far without cha, Cap’n.” 

  
Haven’t gotten to say this in a while.  
  


“Hehe~. It’s what I do.” 

Guess I’m wide awake now.  
I’ll check on the other deck members.  
  


As usual, the inner cockpit is kinda stuffy, with flashing lights all over the place.  
No wonder I only come in here when I _need_ to fly this thing. 

“Hey. Everything alright up here? Don’t you two get bored, always checking those screens?” 

“Ah, Captain. How goes?”

  
“Did you rest well?”

  
“Good going to you two as well, Kibo, Marle. And eh, take it or leave it. I don’t get much sleep when all I hear is the humming of engines and the constant beeping everywhere.”

  
“We are quite used to it ourselves.”

  
  
Well, yeah, you two, like, _never_ leave the cockpit for anything.  
It’s kinda weird.

“It is imperative that we stay here checking the monitors. We must be up to date on accurate solar wind patterns to determine on which days it would be best to continue voyaging. Today, we’ve made steady progress, but will need to stop soon as the solar winds pick up. Floating wreckage from the old world is also a concern.”

  
  
Right, _The World Tree_ .  
O-...Oops.

  
  
“On top of those things Marle listed, we must constantly stay up to date on the presence of Ether in deep space.”

  
“Ether? All the way out here?”

  
“It’s usually in pockets, but Ether fields do exist, and are caused by various things. A lot of the time it’s...nothing alarming. But there’s always the slim chance it could be something worth worrying about.” 

Let’s... just hope we _don’t_ find anything.  
  


Out of the flight deck and into the mid deck now.  
It’s kind of a pain to do this, but every good captain’s gotta check on the crew.  
  


“Airlock #1, #7, #5, all stable for third day of voyage in row. Fuel reserves accurate to prelim inventory report. Shuttle temperature frequency 96%...”

  
“Oh my~. They let Nopon on the space crews now? Be honest- you snuck up here. Wanted a piece of the action, huh?”

  
  
Hehe~.  
And nope, no matter how much you back away, I’m picking your round, fluffy self up.

“N-Ngh. Pne- *ahem* - Captain, is very rude to treat hard working member of crew like teddy bear to be cuddled. As well, it already third day of voyage - how not notice Apo until now? Apo member of crew before even Captain become captain.” 

“Oooh, Apo, stop. You can call me Pneuma, even when we’re up here. Oh, and uh, I’ve never been made captain of something like this before...Or anything, really. I’ve been sort of slow getting to know everyone- even with a crew this light.” 

I’ve spent a lot of my living years thus far...in the footsteps of someone else, huh.  
Yep. Feels weird being front and center all of a sudden.

“Er- regardless. Happy to have friend Pneumapon as Captain. Great pleasure indeed. Apo check crew deck supply reserves before Pneumapon begin carrying him around. If Pneumapon could just put Apo down…-”

  
“Orrrr, Pneuma can carry Apo wherever he wants to go? How’s that sound?”

“*sigh*...Lead way, Pneumapon.” 

J-Jeez…  
I, kinda don’t know what half this stuff is.  
Well, that isn’t entirely true.  
This ship is made out of Siren parts, so I know what some of it is.  
But the only times I’ve ever actually flown anything around myself _was_ inside of Siren.  
There are a lot of differences, and even technology that surpasses what those were capable of.  
Father’s people...I wonder if they’d be happy, seeing all of this?

“Hey. Apo, has...Azurda been well?”

  
“Friend Zurda? Have not seen in while. Last time spoke to him months ago.” 

“His father joined Elysium some odd years back. Merged with all the rest of the Titans to increase the size of the continent. Honestly, I think he deserved to rest somewhere more peacefully. He wasn’t all that big.”

  
“Pneumapon miss Papa Zurda, huh?” 

He told me it was because he wanted to join Fonsett- to become “one” with his home.  
But there _had_ to be more to it than that.  
Gramps, back on our adventures, always had a mind that was a few steps ahead of us...Addam trusted him with my sword for a reason.  
So, Gramps...did you _know_ Elysium would face this problem one day? Is that why you merged with it?

“...I-I do. I won’t lie. But hey- what’s with you not checking up on Azurda? You two seemed inseparable back before I left to seclude myself. Fonsett was your home too, wasn’t it?”

  
“Apo been busy.”  
  


Being as though you’re here now…  
I-I can guess as to what you mean.  
  


“*sigh*...N-No, I’m sorry. Elysium has been trying to figure this out for a long time now. I can tell you’ve been working hard at it, too. Bleh- and maybe I don’t know the kid as well I should, either, considering his father and I were very close.” 

“Is no need to feel bad. Pneumapon been through lot. Live long time. Is right that Apo spend majority of hours per day helping with this project, but not Pneumapon responsibility. Apo responsible for own life.” 

“I-I suppose...”

  
“Inventory check finish.”

  
“O-Oh, already? Where to next?”

“The floor.”

  
  
No fun, as usual.

  
  
“Ugh, fineee.”

“*stretches* Mm. Much better. Pneumapon, is true that Zurda is great friend, but Apo leave all those many months with complete confidence he handle himself. Just like father, Zurda is strong.” 

“From what I remember, you’re not wrong. I only hope we can make some real progress now that we’re finally out voyaging. If I can help Elysium obtain a bigger home in the next few decades or so, it’ll mean you can go back to spending time with your friend, and family, Apo.”

  
“Would like, yes. Counting on Pneumapon to help.”

  
  
Always so straightforward, for such a cutesy looking guy.  
At least your fur remains the softest thing ever.

  
Well, here I am, the Engine Bay.  
It’s always so...orange in here.

“Guess this area’s all mine, huh?”

“Yeah. Normally we get a few people takin’ care of the Engine Bay round the clock, but these types of ships...they’re new. And the Engine Bay on these bad boys are the closest thing to them ‘Siren’ or whatever you done called em. So you’re much more versed up in these parts.”

  
“Heh. I get ya, I get ya. This shouldn’t take me too long, then.” 

“Loud n’ clear, Cap. You know the drill- check cycles, capacity, wind resistance-”

  
“The boring stuff.”

  
“Y-Yea...The borin’ stuff.”  
  


All by myself now.  
Jeez, this room is migraine-inducing. 

“Cycle clock count is low...Capacitors are all up and running...Solar wind shielding in tip-top…”

Oh, great.  
Here I go again, worrying about everything.

“...shape…”

  
Yes- Yes, Pneuma, the ship’s fine.  
I know, and yet - I wonder if it was still right of me...to limit us like this.  
If I let them take apart the other six Siren, we could have had two or three more crews out voyaging along with us.

It wouldn’t save any travel time, but I bet moral’d be a bit higher...Everyone’s so mellow.  
Ngh- And the investigation will move at a snail's pace if it’s only us.

Sure we _have_ other ships, and crews prepared, but they are coming _much_ later.  
Bottom line, this is the _only_ SR-enVoy we’ve got, and this is much faster than anything else The Space Association has.  
  


Some help you are. 

Why can you never stop thinking about how _something_ can go wrong? Can’t you just have faith for once?  
Elysium isn’t gonna be as easy-going about it’s lack of space for much longer, you know.  
And here you are - worried about being attacked. 

Malos, and Aion... _they’re gone now- don’t you realize?  
_ Don’t you hate Siren? Why be so worried about keeping them now?  
  
The brightness of this room is getting to me…  
And it’s- not supposed to be this hot in here, is it?  
  


You _know_ how important this is.  
You know how much longer Elysium might have.  
You know. You _knew_.

You were just.  
Just,

  
  
“...Acting selfish again.”

Mitch, Apo, Marle, Kibo- they’ve all got homes. Lives.  
This isn’t the time for your old-world phobias.

You’re the captain.  
  


“I-I'm their Captain...Capt- ugh, damn, why the hells’ it all bright in here now?”  
  


Pull it together.  
Stop.  
No. Seriously.  
What’s with the orange light in here turning yellow?  
  


Goddamn, my head hurts so much I think my vision is cutting out…  
Hot flashes?  
Shit, this is why I should sleep better.

  
A-Alright...I think that’s enough Engine Bay for now...If I don’t r-rest up, I’ll-

  
  
“*blinks and looks around* Hey... _Hey. Wait.”_ _  
  
_

The flashing lights _aren’t_ me.  
This room, it’s _actually_ yellow- _and blinking._

  
  
“W-What’s going on?!”  
  


O-Ouch. Sudden noises.  
Is that the intercom?  
  
“*short scratchy sound* Captain, come in. C-Captain, to the Flight Deck, please. We’ve got a concern- but don’t know what it is quite yet, so we’ve only raised a soft-alarm. I-I repeat-”

  
“I heard you. I’m coming.”  
  


Dammit.  
Please be nothing.  
  


“Hey! Marle, what’s up?! Kibo?”

  
“You...You need to see this.”

  
  
That’s…  
  


“An..Ether Field? D-Don’t worry me so much. You said those things pop up sometimes, yeah?. I-I get antsy, no playing around, okay?” 

“Captain. This isn’t a jest. I explained before how most Ether Fields in deep space come in pockets - but this one...This isn’t a pocket of energy. It’s a sphere.”

Sphere…  
No-  
 _Hell no._ _  
  
_

“Let me get a closer look, now!”  
  


No.  
That's exactly what I _didn’t_ want to see on the monitor.  
There’s an explanation. There _has_ to be.  
  


“Shit. No...That really _is_ a sphere. If it’s an Ether Sphere- It’s _surrounding_ something."

But something about this monitor is...weird.  
I...I _don't_ like this.

  
"Marle, get me an intricate diagnostic. See if it’s not just some Ether-charged asteroid or a piece of Rhadamanthus that’s still active.” 

Bite your thumb. Don’t be scared.  
You’re the Captain. Don’t frighten them. 

“On it, Captain!”

  
  
Each beep out of Marle’s control board as she clicks away feels like it’s punching inside the folds of my brain.  
Just- Please be nothing.

Breathe.  
Breathe.  
  


“I-...Captain...I-”

  
  
_No._   
  


“What is it?!”

  
“I-It’s this! The deep space telescopes on the new ship you helped build- they zoom out extremely far! If it were a piece of the old world’s space elevator, o-or an asteroid... _I’d see it from this far away._ I-I don’t k-know…-”

  
“So what _do_ you see?!”  
  


I’m running cold. I can feel it.  
I can’t tell how hard my thumb’s being bitten anymore.

  
  
“ _Nothing!_ ”

  
  
I’m sorry.  
 _What?!_  
  


“You’re telling me there’s nothing in that sphere?! No way- that’s gotta be bullshit! You’re _sure_ you calibrated these things correctly before we took off?”

The hells' an active Ether Sphere look like having _nothing_ inside of it?   
Something...Something's up.

“A-Aye! I spent twenty hours calibrating the telescopes before we launched at the beginning of the weekend! There’s no way I’m picking up a dud!”

  
“H-Huh…”

  
“C-Captain?!”  
  


No.  
No no no.  
  


“Captain!”

  
  
 _Nonononono._ _  
__Get it together. Now._

  
  
“*shakes head* D-Dammit! Damn it all! No! We’re going back.”

  
“Back?! Captain, think of how many resources and how much money a return trip this early could-”

  
“I don’t want to hear it, Kibo. I’ve made up my mind.”  
  
  
I don’t know what that thing could be.

  
  
“But there’s always a chance that It could simply be-”

  
“What?! What do you mean, Kibo?”

  
“C-Captain, calm down, please. A-And Kibo...I don’t think this is what you suspect...because, the Ether Sphere- _that thing is moving, and not leisurely either._ ” 

  
_Get it together!_ _  
__Banging your hand on the control booth is only making them more nervous._ _  
__Chill out, Pneuma._

“K-Kibo, raise the threat level, get Mitch and Apo to huddle up in the living quarters. We’re _flying_.”

  
“A-Aye...Captain.”

  
“Anything that happens when we get back home...I-I'll take full responsibility.”

  
  
_I want you alive._   
  


“Engines primed. Payload positions stabilized. Activating front thrusters.”

  
“Raising alarm to level 4. Captain, set a course.”

  
“With pleasure. We’re goin’ home.” 

  
How the hell can a thing inside of an Ether Sphere be _invisible?_ _  
__I’ve never seen this before in my life. It’s unreal._

_Dammit, can’t this thing turn around any faster?!_

  
  
“...Urgh. All of our progress-just like that. That was _years_.”

  
“Can it, science pants. I’d rather us lose resources that we can recover instead of lives that we _can’t._ What don’t you understand?”

  
“H-Hey. We shouldn’t be fighting. It’s over- we’ve turned around...Kibo, don’t you think you’re being unfair to her?”

  
  
I know you wanted this, Kibo.  
I know I’m taking your- _our_ dream away…I guess I’m a master at that, huh?  
But, understand that I’m worrying for all of you.

I can’t take a chance.  
  


“*sigh*...Hey, Marle - can you check and -”

  
  
It’s. Frozen.  
It’s...not moving.  
 _Nothing is moving._ _  
__Except- except me?_  
  


“Marle?! _Can you hear me?!”_  
  


She’s not doing anything.  
Shit.  
What’s going on?!  
  


“Kibo?! Kibo!”  
  


 _Why?_ _Why the hell is it all frozen?!  
_ _Why is the entire main deck white? Did something suck the color out of this place?_ _  
_ _What the hell is this?_ _  
_ _Wh-_ _  
  
_

 _The cockpit. The window._ _  
  
_

“There...Is there...something out there?”

  
  
That’s when I saw it.  
A still, fierce blue fire in the middle of the black, starry abyss.  
Followed by a blinding flash of light.  
I didn’t see what the fiery light belonged to before it froze me too.  
Just like the rest of my crew.  
  
Time- it was still.  
There was nothing.

No significance. No dreams.  
The moment was eternal.  
  


Then.  
The flash occurred again.  
  


Time started to move.  
Marle began to scream. To cry.

Kibo slammed face first into his control booth.  
Things began to spark. To collapse. To set ablaze. To shake violently.

I heard the Airlocks break.  
  


Apo got flung around like a Bitball.  
Mitch held onto a control lever in the mid deck for dear life.

The cockpit window cracked. There was nothing on the other side of it.  
I stared into the abyss. It stared back.  
  


And at the middle of all that chaos,

There was me.  
Struggling to comprehend.  
Struggling to cope.  
Struggling to scream.  
Struggling to cry.  
Struggling to do anything except fear.

The white flash was when time moved for me, and everyone else again.  
The white flash brought with it the nightmare.

\-- Continued in next chapter --  
  
  
  


  
  
  



	8. "Siren! Answer me!!"

It wouldn’t stop playing in my head.

Over and over.  
The same hellish sight tormented me as I floated, descrying the hallmark of all of The Space Associations’ hard work drifting about, shattered and mangled. 

The sturdy metallic deck, the intricate storage chambers, the Engine Bay.  
The white exterior, bejeweled with beautiful green, donned frontmost with a replica of the Aegis core to complete the look.  
 _My_ core.  
It was all scrap now. It was shredded and chunked up into a vicious meander of space junk.  
  
I heard Marle scream.

I saw Kibo lose consciousness.

I watched Apo get slingshot out into nothingness, before he could even tell what was happening.

I saw the lever Mitch clung to break.

I heard each Airlock burst. I heard the howl of the stars enter the once cozy voyager.  
The hellish blackness of deep space had come through every opening, formal, or slashed, to claim what was once mine, and now was it’s own. 

_I watched my crew die._   
  


And honestly.  
I didn’t even realize what had happened immediately.

It was a few-  
Seconds?  
Minutes?  
Days?  
How long ago was that?  
Did I even care?  
  
I was there with them. On that ship.  
Now I’m here without them. Still sharing their fate. In the sprinkled darkness.  
  


Oh...It’s you, honey.  
I know I’ve been gone a while.  
Did you miss me, Rex?  
I’ll make you something good.  
  


But first, don’t you see the stars twinkling too?  
Ya see those dark, ghastly figures flying out from them?  
What are...those things?  
Is my vision blurring? They’re not coming for me, right?

They look an awful lot like the Siren Malos used against me ages ago.  
Somehow...this feels- a _lot_ more dangerous.  
Y-You’re seeing this, right, Rex?  
You’re seeing how I screwed up?  
You’re seeing how I haven’t learned anything?

It’s getting awful foggy. I feel so floaty.  
Well- I guess that’s because I _have_ been floating, for-  
Seconds?  
Minutes?  
Days?  
  


  
The sun’s so bright, Rex.  
The light is so bright.  
I can see you. I can see you again.  
I can’t wait to hear you when I come home.

For you to pull me into a deep kiss.  
Breathing all excitedly as you welcome me back.  
Hehe.  
Breathing.  
Breathing…  
  


I-  
 _I’m not breathing._ _I’m not breathing._ _  
_ _I’m not dead. Those things - no. They really are coming._ _  
  
_

 _It’s choking me._  
 _I’m not dead. I’ve been here the entire time._ _  
__Seconds?!_ _  
__Minutes?!_ _  
__Days?!_ _  
__It doesn’t matter, I-I’m alive.  
_ _I’m alive!  
_ _But I’m going to die.  
_ _I’m going to die_ **_soon_ ** _if I don’t get them off of me._

 _Off of my core._ _  
__I’m going to die._ _  
__Shit._ _  
__Shit._ _  
__THINK._ _  
  
_

_I have to- c-call...on something...Something…_ _  
__S-Some- S- Siren._ _  
_**_Siren._ **

_I need you. I need you Siren._ _  
__Answer me. Answer me._ _  
  
_

**_Siren! ANSWER ME!!_ **

A single voice recording came through my core.  
I didn’t hear it. I felt it.  
  
“Acknowledged.” _  
  
_

The green glow of my Core Crystal erupted into a fiery burst.  
The ethereal rings that allow me to pilot Siren materialized around my wrist.   
Siren’s cockpit slowly materialized too.

The black machine-like monsters dogpiling me were sent flying off a short distance as I went from a lonely girl floating to her death, to a ball of vibrant light.  
Once the light dissipated. There I was.  
Staring down my recovering foes through the heads-up-display of my once most trusted tool.  
Maybe I even considered Siren a friend, once.

I may have hated you. I still do. But for now- let us please set aside our differences.

  
I can breathe again.  
I can see again. I can see the enemies.  
I can feel my limbs. The fog in my mind is gone.  
I can feel your power seeping back into me.  
  


I can fight.

“I count three. I need vitals - what are those things?” 

They _look_ like Artifices. But...there’s something different about them too.

  
Siren answered me.  
  


“Displaying vital striking points. The enemies in the vicinity appear to be machine based life-forms. No external weaponry detected. These enemies prefer to attack with bare claws, and occasionally, the spike on the end of their tail.” _  
_  
From within Siren, I flicked both of my wrists, activating it’s dual sabres.

I’m going to make this right.  
By the names of my fallen crew.  
I will shed no tears. Not yet.  
Not until I turn all of you into floating space garbage. Just like my ship.  
  


“You’re all...not moving?”  
  


Were they analyzing me too?  
Waiting for me to give the signal?  
No matter - I had nothing to say to them anyway.  
Guess I was striking first.

A few motions with my body and hands, and Siren moved.  
We charged at the one in the middle.

I thrust forward. Siren does the same.  
The black machine’s red eye glows a deep crimson as it rises above our strike, moving through the nothingness of space like it was air.

No time to follow. The other two want a piece of us.  
From the left and right, we use the sabres to block their rush strikes.

But they were smarter than that. Of course they were.  
They grabbed onto each blade, channeling Ether through their claws to heat them up.

  
I caught on quick to their plan and introduced some of my own Ether to the dance.  
Siren appreciated that.

The sabre’s were coated in golden, buzzing light energy, sizzling like no tomorrow.  
The machines popped right off, the fronts of their bodies simmering in a line right down the middle.

From behind, the Artifice-looking monster from a second ago attempted to box us in with the other two we had rid ourselves of.  
  


Easy pickings for me.  
Sorry, ya got the wrong girl. I’m too old for tactics like these. 

From all three directions, they made back for us at breakneck pace.  
The vacuum of space seemed like the most fluid place ever to me - just from watching them move so freely.  
But that’s all ending here.

Locking my hands at my hips, I ball my fists, and turn my body from within Siren.

Siren acknowledges me - raising it’s swords and following my lead.  
Our spinning slash decimates the machines. The Ether searing inside of them causes a chain reaction that ends in an explosion.  
Garbage. Trash. Junk.  
That’s what you are.  
  


“More, huh?”

And I’m going to prove it.  
To every single one of you.  
  
“It is recommended that you continue combat from a distance.”  
  


Shut up, Siren.  
We’re not buddies.  
Who are you barking orders at?

Another metal enemy extends its tail at us.  
I use my body to tell Siren to let go of one sword- allowing it to disappear into particles.  
With a quick motion out of the way of the jab, our retaliation was clear.  
  


“Mine now.”

We grab it’s filthy thing and yank it straight off.  
Sparks erupt from the severed end as it flails about senselessly.

I enjoyed that.  
  


But more play-time will have to wait.

As much as I don’t like to admit it, Siren is right.  
I tell it to drop the other sword. It does as I say.  
  


I move some things around in the cockpit’s virtual screen.  
Siren gets the memo, and extends from it’s torso a set of cannons. 

There’s four more of them. I ball my fists and turn my hands clockwise from within.  
Siren primes it’s weapons.  
  


Time to burn some shit.

We veer out of the way of some more tail strikes, leaving in our wake wide, hot beams of golden light.  
They pierce through our targets. The sparks come, and then the explosions.  
Beautiful.  
  


And I’ve got nothing but time.  
  


“Keep em coming.” 

I’ll blast you all.  
Every single one.

I’ll burn you all to ashes.  
  


Not a single shot will bring them back.  
Not a single shot will fix how much of a fool I am.

But I’ll burn you all.  
If I could set the empty void itself alight, I would.

I hate you Siren - you know that?  
But I hate them more.  
  


“How many more?!”

We fire and fire.

Some get close. We crush them.  
We fling them. We slash them.

It feels like it goes on forever.  
But also - like no time at all.

I’m awake. Alive.  
But I shouldn’t be, Siren.  
I shouldn’t be alive.  
  


Why aren’t they alive?  
Siren?  
Why did I mess up?

Do you hate them as much as I do?  
Do you hate me? I hate you.

Everything’s a mess, a blur.  
We keep burning them. Over and over.  
They keep coming.  
I stopped counting after a bit.  
Hoping the slaughter would just end.  
  


I thought I had the upper hand.  
But then I realized something.

Or rather, I felt something.  
 _Felt like I was missing something._

“Hey. What about that other thing?”  
  


We burn another.  
It explodes.  
Last one, maybe?

The abyss is clear. I have a moment to breathe.  
I use it to look around.  
For the light I saw on the ship.  
The thing that’s got my emotions in this torturous frenzy.  
  


Siren’s monitor displays it.  
It’s still there, alright.  
The Ether Sphere.  
  


In fact, it didn’t move.  
What was it still here for?  
Me?  
There’s no other explanation. 

Oh. I guess times up.  
More descend.  
The massacre resumes.  
My Ether feels limitless, as does my hatred.

  
Of Siren.  
Of those Black Artifices.  
Of Me.  
Especially me.  
  


“*beep beep* Caution. Caution.”  
  


Huh?

“Please activate maximum defense. The unit you are piloting is under threat of extremely heavy damage, and will be destroyed if the full effect of the incoming energy dispersal makes contact. You cannot evade. Please raise all shields.” 

There.  
There it is again.  
From within the Ether Sphere, I see the blue flame.  
  


“Negating all combat actions. Siren, switch to full defense and raise all shields.”

It flickers, turns white, and flashes.  
  


I am still. Nothing.  
My hatred is frozen in a snapshot of time. Picture perfect.  
I hope that was enough.  
  


Time moves again.  
Siren shakes. The monitors glitch and the images displayed on them chop up.  
The cockpit flashes red as I get an alert.  
  


“Critical damage to multiple high priority areas.”  
  


Oh. We’re falling.  
How _heavy_ was that attack?!  
I guess it did take my entire ship apart. 

  
Shit. I don’t do something about this, I'm going to break through the Earth’s atmosphere.  
We’ll burn up in it.  
Bad news.

“S-Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m going down. Dammit.”  
  


Can’t lose my cool. No matter what.  
Think of _something._  
  


“A phase shift!”

Just like what brought Siren here.  
I’ll repair it with this.  
  


My tiara tip glows along with my Core Crystal.  
A warm, emerald light washes over us.

“How much damage...How much…” 

I try to get to every area that was hit as quickly as I can.  
But that was going to prove to be a huge issue.  
I was still locked into defense mode.

Siren couldn’t attack.  
And now, more of the Artifice-things from earlier were boosting through the cosmos, eyeing me down like dinner.  
  


“Dammit. I can’t switch off. I’m still flying down. This isn’t good. _At all._ ”  
  
Heal _faster_ .  
Goddammit.  
  


I pump more ether into the area around us.  
Bending reality as hard as I can.  
  


The enemies latch onto our body. Attacking viciously.  
Attempting to rip Siren apart and pry me out of it.  
  


I keep healing.  
I can’t fight. I can only push myself harder and harder trying to make Siren get back to being fully operational.

I’m trapped.  
Trapped in this thing.

This stupid thing.  
This useless piece of junk.

But I have to focus.  
 _I need to fix this._  
  


Before…  
Before-

“Entering atmosphere.” 

“Urgh!! Dammit, Siren! **_Damn you!_ **” 

  
  


I continue healing Siren’s damage.  
But this time, It’s not to get back into the fray.  
I need to buy time.

“Shit. Alright...If I can just…” 

The heat inside of the cockpit is excruciating now.  
We’re definitely on fire.

And falling.

_Fast._

The monitors at least seem to be working again.  
I need to check my descent.

“Ngh. Where...Where am I going-Wh-... _That’s-_ ”  
  
I was falling straight into Elysium. Right overtop of Torigoth.

  
“No. _No!_ The explosion from Siren crashing right on top of them will level the place!”  
  
 _Think, Pneuma!_ _  
_  
“Urgh...Damn it all. Change of fuckin’ plans. Activate the emergency eject.”  
  
Siren heeded it’s final call.

The crystalized seal protecting the cockpit in the center of its body split in half, then shattered apart, exposing me to my attackers for a brief moment- until I burst out of Siren like a shotgun shell.   
Into the open sky.  
  


I couldn’t hear a thing with all the wind in my ears.   
But I wasn’t done yet.  
  
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the Artifice-things abandoned the Siren I occupied and were bolting for me directly.  
That spells out what they were after, at least.  
  


But there’s no time to wonder why.  
That Siren’s still falling.  
I _cannot_ let it hit the ground.

“One more time! _Siren!_ _Answer me!!”_

Around my body a new Siren constructs itself.  
I can fight again.  
But I’ve got to ignore the enemies for a moment, and bring my attention instead to the falling hunk of metal about to waste my precious home.  
  


I make Siren fly as fast as I can.  
We scoop the corpse straight out of the sky.

I make a motion with my body and Siren answers it.  
We drag the empty, useless husk across the lands through the sky, stopping above water.  
It’s tossed into the ocean. Exactly where trash oughta be.  
  


“And now…”  
  
Back to you assholes.  
  


“In space, this many wouldn’t worry me...but-”  
  
We were no longer in space.  
This was Elysium.  
My home.  
  


Yeah.  
Nope.  
If a fight broke out right over top of them-  
  
“ _Think...Think…_ ” 

I hope you like playing tag.  
  


You want me?  
  


“Come get me.”  
  


Sirens thrusters erupt and we blast off.  
Away from Gormott.  
  


We were over Temperantia now.  
A rural city in the center of Elysium.

But we couldn’t stop. We kept flying while dodging whatever stray attacks they tossed our way.  
I saw the people pointing at us and our attackers from the ground.

Screaming.  
And then running all over the place.  
  


I’m so sorry. I know you’re afraid. I didn’t want this.  
I don’t have time to explain.  
  


 _Please._  
Just let me deal with it.

It’ll be okay.  
Won’t it?

“*heavy breathing* A-Alright...This should be enough...”  
  
Around me I saw nothing but the open sea.  
We were far away now.  
And as expected, they came following.  
  


Our enemies took a good look at us. I stared from inside the cockpit at the blood-red lights of their eyes.  
Not a greeting.  
They were locking onto me.  
  


Oh. I knew. They would attack soon.  
I just. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the frightened people.  
The grownups. Nopon. Children. Families. Friends.

I’m cold. My throat is tightening.  
My chest is about to burst.  
I feel as if I’ll vomit all over this cockpit.

I thought about my crew.  
I thought about the vacuum of space they’d never escape from.  
I thought about the last time I tried to save a world and screwed _everything_ up.

T-  
Tor-  
Torn-

“Pilot. Your current level of stress may impair your ability to fight.”  
“Shut up. _Shut up._ **_Shut up!!_ ** ”  
  


 _Pull it together. Here they come.  
_ _You’re different now.  
_ _Stop being so scared._

The battle raged once more.

  
I’m not letting them die.  
I’m not letting them die.

“*moves around things on the monitor* Si-Siren. Where is it?”

  
“Searching for large Ether presence. Please wait.”

  
“You’re _useless. You think we can wait?!_ ”

We didn’t have a choice.  
No matter how much I bitched in that cockpit.  
  


I refocused to what was in front of me.  
Thrashing. Crushing. Slashing. Blasting.  
Burning. Burning it all.  
  


All of them.  
Their bodies erupted in explosion after explosion.  
I watched as their insides blew up out of them, only to then rain down into the sea.  
  


I can’t bring any of them back.  
But I can burn you all.  
I can keep doing it until you’re all gone. Until you can’t hurt me anymore.  
  


“Additional hostiles approaching from Earth’s atmosphere.” 

“Where are they all _coming from?!_ ” 

As if I weren’t dealing with enough.  
We took care of the final enemy from our position.

The sky blinked from behind the clouds in multiple spots. That was them.   
More of them.  
  
“Full throttle, Siren!”  
  


Siren heeded me once more, and off we were.  
I’m not letting them die.

We were now above the clouds. Still away from Elysium.  
Business as usual.  
  


We fought them off one by one.  
Another, then the next.

It felt like forever.  
It felt like no time at all.  
  


But. Inside the cockpit I was still losing it.  
Because I knew the real menace had yet to come.

“Pilot.”

“ ** _WHAT?!_ ** _”_

“Large Ether Sphere presence detected.” 

Finally. Siren found it.  
But wasn’t that thing supposed to be invisible?  
Shit. No. This is bad.

It can’t be down here.

“Shit. Shitshitshit. Siren where is it heading toward? Is it targeting something?”  
  


If it attacks me again and sends me flying into Elysium…

“You, Pilot.”

…  
That was all I needed to hear.  
  


We put our boosters into max throttle, making our way back toward the stars above.  
I couldn’t chance being sent flying into Elysium again. I wouldn’t be able to stop Siren from this close.  
  


I don’t know if that thing’s got enough power to hit me with that attack again.  
I don’t know. I can’t know.  
All I can do is fly. 

“Should be...breaking through again..soon…” 

We evade attacks from the ones that we _can_ see.  
But eventually, they multiply too quickly.  
  


We’re evading too much.  
We’ll be nicked out of the sky with this many surrounding us.  
  


“ _Well then - here goes!”_  
  


I make another command on Siren’s monitor.  
Siren acknowledges me again.  
  


From within multiple unsealed chambers around its body, bursts of light erupt.  
The orb around us expands in a cascade of white hot Ether. 

The enemies were vaporized.  
And I could see deep space again.

  
Siren and I - we could make it.  
We could.

But then-

“*loses balance* Agh! H-Huh?! What's going-”  
  
Siren.  
It stopped.

  
The thrusters still whirred. Protesting it’s restrictions.  
But it was all for nothing.  
  


We _weren’t moving._

I felt the cockpit shake.  
The monitors were yellow now.  
  
“Pilot. There is an enemy with a hold on us. It is the enemy occupying the Ether Sphere.”

“Dammit. Not like this! I can’t eject if it’s grabbing you. Shit!”

Siren was still cooling from the previous huge blast.  
Our arms were locked in place. No use trying to stab anything.  
  


I couldn’t use the emergency eject.  
I couldn’t fire from the cannons, or discharge another Ether Field.  
  


I couldn’t do anything.  
Whatever this hideous, vile, invisible thing wanted to do to me.

  
It would have it’s way.

“Ngh...U-Ugh…”  
  


The cockpit shakes more. I hit my head.  
The monitors are red again.

I’m tired, Siren.  
I’m tired of this.  
  


It’s always something.  
I’m sick of it.

“S-Siren…”

The monster clutching us squeezed harder.  
I guess it’s not done.  
  


I can’t do anything.  
I can’t fight back.  
  
“Pilot. You will lose consciousness.” 

“F-Focus...Stay awake..”

I’ve used a lot of power already.  
But I can still try one more thing.

We start to descend.  
It’s going to slam us into Elysium.

I move something on the monitor. My last stand.  
I can’t fall asleep. I stare into the blank sky, knowing what’s really there.

I’ll let the fear keep me awake.  
  


“Deploying rear shields.” 

In- what was it?  
Seconds?  
Minutes?  
Days?  
That’s when I felt it.  
  


The cockpit shook violently. There were alerts everywhere.  
I felt as if my body were hit by an asteroid.

I heard the screams.  
Screams of people.  
Nopon. Children. Grownups. Families. Friends.

We collided right onto Temperantia.  
The rural city.  
I was still awake. Guess it was the pain. Maybe.

We were still in its arms.  
Still in the nightmare.  
I still couldn’t see it.  
  


But I felt Siren _move_ .  
And I wasn’t making it do anything.  
Siren was done cooling - but that didn’t matter.  
  


All of it’s weapon modules were broken.  
I still couldn’t fight.  
That invisible nightmare wasn’t finished with me.

And I still couldn’t sleep.

\-- Continued in next chapter --

  
  



	9. Furious

Numb.  
All of it.  
 _Numb._

“Pilot. You have sustained an egregious injury to your head. Cease combat. You will not remain conscious for long.”

  
“Heh. Hehe. Fuck you, Siren. H-How am I supposed t-to do-”

  
  
It squeezed us again.  
I screamed. I don’t think I heard it. But I felt it.

My arms.  
My legs.  
  


My head.  
My ears.

“Pilot. Alert. Fourteen Ether reactor gaskets have been snapped in the engine compartment. Multiple power supply units are touching together now. A chain reaction may occur. This unit is now a hazardous area for you to continue occupying.”

  
“U-Ugh...Ngh...Why... _Won’t you shut up? Just...let me- let me think of_ **_something_ ** _, will ya?”_

It was numb.  
All of it.  
  


I knew I was in pain.  
Couldn’t feel it, though.

I couldn’t see what was causing it, either.  
But I knew it was there.  
  


I knew it couldn’t wait.  
Whatever it wanted outta me. It couldn’t wait to get it.  
  


“I-I need…”  
  


The monitors are barely working.  
I can feel the inside of Siren heating up.

The damn thing is right.  
Those power units in the engine compartment are going to turn this cockpit into an oven.

“I need...to…”  
  
I had no idea what I needed to do  
 _“Think of something” were probably the only words about to escape my trembling lips._ _  
  
_

Didn’t happen, though. Because I howled again.  
It wouldn’t stop squeezing.  
  


I wish it would rip this Siren apart.  
I wish it would let me out.  
  


The eject function doesn’t even work anymore, either.  
And, honestly, I think- whatever this is- it knows this.  
  


It’s keeping me here.  
It’s keeping me inside of Siren.  
  


Inside this prison.  
Inside of this soon-to-be furnace.  
  


“W-Wait…”

Father.  
This is what you wanted, right?  
  


“Make me proud.” - And have I done that?  
Do you see me now?

If so, screw you.  
Everything about you.  
  


This was your vision.  
Your hatred.  
  


Your god complex.  
Your dream.  
  


 _You’re the one who befouled this world._ _  
__You made this mess._ _  
__  
__You made Logos. You made me._ _  
__Logos is gone, Father._ _  
  
_

_Now It’s_ **_only_ ** _me. Who knows where that other jackass could be._ _  
_**_I’m_ ** _here, cleaning_ **_your_ ** _mess up._

Ya think that's fair?  
Is anything about this fair?

“...W-Wait...what…”

  
The heat in the cockpit raises some more.  
It’s boiling.  
  


I couldn’t tell which droplets that I swallowed from off my forehead were sweat, and which ones were blood.  
They tasted the same.  
  


“*static beeping* A-A-Alert. Non-combatants entering combat area.” 

“*raspy cough* ...n-no…hell...”

_Pull it together._

I see them. Public security officers. No doubt sent in from Mor Ardain long before I got put into this death trap.

The two of them shout at the floating mech in the air, absolutely bewitched at the sight.  
  


“Y-Yo - Are you _seeing this right now?! That’s an Artifice!”_

 _  
__“_ Yeah- but i-it’s not flying! It’s in the air but...It ain’t damn sure flying! Looks like it’s being...crushed? S-Something weird's definitely goin’ on!” 

O-Out...you have to...g-get…

“Ey, you got a visor, don’tcha? Take a look inside. See what the hell’s goin’ on up there.” 

“A-Aye!” 

Please…

  
  
“...It’s... _It’s_ **_her._ ** _”_

_“Who?!”_

_  
_“T-That girl! She’s pilotin’ that freaky mech! A-And it don’t look like she’s enjoyin’ herself, either…”

  
“Think you can be a little more specific?”

  
“Uhh...Urgh...That’s it! The National Broadcast! You remember that, right? It was like four or five days ago- but she was on there! They...They said she was...”

  
Dammit.  
There has to be something I can do.  
Look around...Look around…  
  


“They said she was an ‘Aegis’ s-somethin’ or another! One of those ‘Blades’, whatever those are! They ain’t been around in a long time. Apparently she might be the only one left.” 

“Shit! I remember now! Buddy- she ain’t just some ‘thing’. That’s Pneuma! She was supposed to be on the Space Associations top voyage team! What the hell’s going-” 

Found it! Thank goodness.  
The microphone- it still works.

  
  
“*stammered gasps* H-Hey... **_Hey!_ ** _You two- you can’t be here! Please!! It’s dangerous. You have to run! Now! GO! Get as_ **_far_ ** _away from Temperantia as you can! I mean it!”_

They didn’t move at first.  
They fired a shot or two from their rifles in my general direction, hoping to hit something.  
Seems they caught on to my predicament.  
But it meant nothing.  
  


I said I wouldn’t cry.  
But now I was about to.  
This was hell. The situation. _And_ this cockpit.  
Please...Please don’t throw your lives away…

I looked at them the entire time. They looked so determined.  
So full of courage.  
Or maybe stupidity.  
I wasn’t sure. But I felt relieved at last when I _did_ see them begin to run.

  
  
“T-This is insane. None of our shots is workin’!” 

“Yo! We should cut our losses. Something is _very_ messed up here - a couple rifles won’t mean shit. Let’s haul ass back to base camp and try to get a fleet moving.”

They picked up their feet. I managed to smile - just a little.  
Go. You don’t deserve what’s about to happen to me.  
  


“*static beeping* P-iLot. *distorted noises* T-t-t-t-temperature r- reaching…” 

The monitors shut off.  
Sirens voice was gone.  
  


All my pain. My emotion. My power.  
It was all gone.  
  


The cockpit was nothing now. Except a dark, scorching abyss.  
The cockpit was nothing now. Except a grave.  
  


My body jerked back.  
It’s such an inconvenience.  
  


Such a chore, that I can’t die.  
Not without my core being shattered. 

But maybe.  
Maybe it would just melt. Sure feels hot enough in here for that.  
  


“*jagged, gross coughing* r-rex…”  
  


I’m coming home, aren’t I?  
The metal prison moved again. 

There were no alarms. No monitors.  
No alerts.  
  


But I knew.  
I knew what was next. 

I was yanked up into the sky like a ragdoll.  
And then, in the moment next. I howled again.  
  


I was a crater in the ground.  
But the nightmare wasn’t over.  
  


The demon clutching me in it’s invisible hand dragged my coffin around like a trash bag.  
I bounced around inside of the thing like a lottery ball.

What was it toying with me so much for?  
Couldn’t it just do that time-freeze thing again?  
  


What’s with you?  
Why won’t you just kill me?

“*slams head* **_AGHHHH!_ ** _”_

I knew I collided with something else after being tossed.  
Wasn’t sure what it was, at first.  
Not until I heard the-  
  


Screaming.  
Confused crying.  
Running.

That was a building.  
That was people.  
You-

You used me.  
You used me?  
To hurt people?

“*coughs* N-No...No _you-agh”_  
  


I was in its clutches again.  
The nightmare was getting worse and worse.  
  


I heard more screams.  
More pained cries.

  
I heard fires.   
I heard fire extinguishers.  
  


I heard pain.  
I heard confusion.  
  


I heard. I _felt_ -  
Moving?

“w-what the h-hell….is…”

_We were moving._

_I was moving._ _  
__It was moving._ _  
  
_

_I heard dragging._ _  
__I heard the grinding of metal over concrete._ _  
__I heard the crumbling of stone and glass and pipes._ _  
  
_

_I was being dragged through a city._ _  
__An entire fucking city._ _  
__I’m not sure how hard I was reeling. My head was in so much pain._ _  
  
_

_I heard the sound of cars being intercepted._ _  
__I heard the sound of people_

 _I heard the news. A state of emergency was declared._ _  
  
_

_I heard everything._ _  
__I heard it all._ _  
__Grownups. Children. Nopon. Families. Friends._ _  
  
_

_From there in my coffin. I couldn’t see._ _  
__But I knew._ _  
__I knew exactly what was going on._

_The people._ _  
__Their lives._ _  
__Their dreams._ _  
  
_

_Elysium._ _  
__My home_ _  
_**_Our_ ** _home._ _  
  
_

_I was being used to destroy it._ _  
  
_

_Was it-_

_  
__Seconds?_ _  
__Minutes?_ _  
__Days?_ _  
  
_

_Every moan._ _  
__Every cry._ _  
__Every crash._ _  
  
_

_It tormented me._ _  
  
_

_Every burst of pipes._ _  
__Every crashed car._ _  
__Every broken support beam._ _  
  
_

_It took me back._

_Back to that day._ _  
__Back to Addam._ _  
__Back to Malos._ _  
  
_

_Back to that battle._ _  
  
_

_Back to Lora._ _  
__Back to Jin._ _  
__Back to Mikhail._ _  
  
_

_Back to._ _  
  
_

_Back._

_Back._

_To..._ _  
__  
__“_ **_milton…Milton…_ ** _”_

  
  


_My head crashed again. I didn’t feel it._ _  
__The moving stopped. I didn’t care._ _  
  
_

_I was back._ _  
__Back at Torna._ _  
  
_

_The screams._ _  
__The explosions._ _  
  
_

_The families._ _  
__Families I took away._ _  
  
_

_The bonds._ _  
__Bonds I didn’t deserve._ _  
  
_

_I was back._ _  
__Back to before I met Rex._

_Rex.  
_ _Did I ever deserve you?_

_You’ll just say yes._ _  
__I know._

_That’s why I love you._ _  
__God- It’s hot in here._ _  
  
_

_Oh- is that me?_ _  
__That’s...Yep._ _  
  
_

_“there i am… that's my reflection alright…”_

_God. You’re pathetic._ _  
__Can’t you hear them?_ _  
__Can’t you feel this?_ _  
  
_

_Your enemy?_ _  
__It’s still there._ _  
__You’re still bleeding._ _  
  
_

_Dumbass._ _  
__Wake the hell up._ _  
__You can’t sleep. You don’t get that privilege yet._ _  
  
_

_“leave ...leave me alone…”_

_You don’t want this._ _  
  
_

_“i said…”_

_You want the crying to stop._ _  
  
_

_“...leave…”_

_You want to stop having to use “that power”._

_“go away…”_

_You give up now - it’s all over._ _  
__Whatever it wants. It gets it._

_“stop.”_

_You’re crazy._ _  
__You mess everything up._ _  
  
_

_That’s all it is._ _  
__That’s all you do._ _  
  
_

_You’re exactly what Malos said you were._

_“no.”_

_You want-_ _  
  
_

_“did you not hear me?”_

_To_ **_destroy._ **

_“i said stop it.”_

_Father’s a failure._ _  
  
_

_Father made you._ _  
  
_

_You thought you’d be different?_ _  
  
_

_“dammit...dammit…”_

_And don’t even get me started on-_ _  
  
_

_“don’t you dare-”_ _  
__  
__Rex.  
_ _Didn’t wanna hear that, did you?_

_“don’t bring rex into it- he’s-”_ _  
  
_

_The only good that’s ever happened to you?  
_ _Sure wish you could return the favor, don’t you?_ _  
__  
__But those screams are oh. So._ **_Excruciatingly loud._ ** **  
**_And it’s hot as hell in here, still, ain’t it?_ _  
  
_

_“stop. shut up.”_

_Gonna think your way out of this one?_ _  
__What’s your plan? Because damn-_

 _All the other plans sure as hell worked- didn’t they?_ _  
  
_

_“i said-”_

_Take another look at yourself._ _  
  
_

_Pneuma._ _  
  
_

_Be honest._ _  
  
_

_“I **said** -” _

**_Why are you still here in this world?_ **

**_“I SAID STOP!! STOP IT!!!! SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!!”_ **

Tears were streaming down my face.  
Blood was streaming down my forehead.

The sounds of the chaos strangled my psyche.  
I couldn’t tell how long I was losing my mind.  
  


Seconds.  
Minutes.  
Days.  
  


It didn’t matter.

Nothing did anymore.  
I was furious.  
  


I think I was hotter than the cockpit at that point.  
I was so mad.  
I was so _goddamn_ mad.

At myself.  
At Father.  
At Siren.  
  


At my opponent.  
At Logos.  
At- what was it again? Ontos?

I was mad that everything was all messed up.  
 _I was all messed up._  
But, also-  
  


I was alive.  
I knew I was alive.  
Because I wanted something.

I wanted-  
The filthy thing in front of me-  
 **_Dead._ **

I was alive.  
Even though I shouldn’t be.  
I was alive.  
  


And when I realized this.  
I don’t know how loud I screamed.  
But- when I screamed, that’s when it happened.  
  


My Core Crystal.  
My tiara.  
The emerald light that overtook the interior of the cockpit was blinding.  
  


I felt like a star inside of there.  
A collapsing star at its absolute tipping point.  
And in just a moment. Just a second-  
  
I was ready-  
To  
 **_Explode._ ** **  
****  
**I don’t know how loud I screamed.  
But- when I screamed, that’s when it happened.  
  


That’s when I broke free.  
The crystal cover sealing the cockpit. My coffin. It burst.  
  


When the crystal burst, it erupted.  
The hole I made within Siren erupted with a furious emerald beam.

It was all of my rage.  
All of my hatred.

The beam was as wide as a train tunnel.  
And it traveled the entire length of the violently disheveled Ardanian street.

It was no longer disheveled now.  
It was- for lack of a better word- destroyed.  
  


Wasted.  
Demolished.  
  
The Ether from the blast simmered and bubbled in the cracks of the cratered concrete.   
The wounds in the road doubled as hot plates. 

I was furious.  
That was the result.  
  


But-  
It wasn’t only the street.

I got something else, too.  
I got what I wanted.  
  


The air in front of me became a filmy haze that eventually bore a form.  
It slowly crept into view, the nasty thing.

The hole in it’s chest was massive. Startlingly so.  
The black, mechanical, dragon-like looking demon was staring me down.

It still clutched in it’s hand my now blasted coffin.   
But I felt it. The broken Siren loosened, along with its grip.  
  


The rash-red light of it’s single eye burned its way into my already torn up mind.  
Another horrible sight I’d never forget.  
  


The light shut off.   
It was over. It’s enormous hand loosened enough to make ample space between me and the building I was shoved into.

  
It still stood there. Lifeless as it was.  
It refused to fall over. It still wanted me. Even in death.  
  


But it wouldn’t have me.  
I was furious. _I won._ Not you.  
  


But there was only a single time before-  
That a victory had felt so-  
  


 _Incredibly._ _  
_**_Hollow._ **

  
  


The sight was getting to be unbearable.  
I couldn’t stay here in this steaming metal pit.  
  


I tried. _I tried to move_ .  
I really did.  
  
But as soon as my foot touched down on the crude opening of my former metal prison.  
My Core Crystal blinked.  
  


It started to blink faster.  
And then, I flashed.  
  


In a moment.  
I saw her- the other me.  
  


She saw me - the other her.  
The one of me had become two.  
  


Pyra stared blankly into Mythra’s eyes.  
Mythra stared blankly into Pyra’s eyes.  
  


They were tired.  
Their eyes didn’t stay open for long.  
  


The sisters hit the ground. Hard.

The sisters collapsed. 

\- _2 days later -_

Mythra was the first to wake up.  
Her headache was splitting.  
She moaned viciously as she tried to gather her bearings.  
  


Pyra was next.  
She growled, choking back a sob in the process.  
She shifted up in the bed, looking over to her sister.  
  


Mythra eyes were unfocused.  
She was shaking.  
She was sweating.  
  


“Ngh…”  
  
That was all Pyra could manage.  
They knew.  
They both knew.  
  


“*sigh*...”  
  


That was all Mythra could manage.  
They both knew.  
They knew there was something coming.  
  


A new threat.  
A new terror.  
A new nightmare.  
  


They knew it loomed over the both of them.  
Elysium was in for the worst of it.  
Both of them began crying.

Mythra was the first to stop.  
She finally met eyes with Pyra.  
She said nothing.  
  


Pyra met eyes with Mythra.  
She wiped her own eyes.  
She said nothing.  
  


Both of the sisters nodded to one another.  
An acknowledgement of the situation, nothing more.  
All they could manage.

Pyra placed her hand on Mythra’s chest.  
Mythra did the same to Pyra.  
The girls blinked. Flashed. And then it happened.  
  


I was back.

I made my way to the end of the hospital bed.

I could hear the news on the large city monitors and speakers outside of the window of the room I was taken to.

I couldn't make out whatever they were saying on them. The words were a jumbled mess in my mind.  
  


I couldn't think. Couldn't breathe properly. Couldn't focus on anything in front of me.

I was still furious.

* * *

_\-- Present day, 51XX --_

“*shaking and sobbing* _U-ugh...Ontos...Ontos!...Ontos!!!”_

It was, well, what felt like a few hours that went by.  
A few hours of no words.  
  
Neither from me, nor my brother.  
He knew what I needed.   
He didn’t speak.

He just held me tight.  
He let me cry. He let me shake. He kissed my hair.  
He gave me nothing but love.

Eventually. I did stop.  
Because Ontos...he had questions.  
  


Questions that he still needed answers to.  
  


  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna give a thank you and shoutout to IdyllicAurora for all of their wonderful comments throughout this fic.  
> You've really kept me going i mean it.  
> (Also im sorry for what this chapter prolly did to you ;-; <3)  
> theres one chapter left, and then ive got a little surprise for you all


	10. End of ACT I - Promise made

“Pneuma. Just to verify, you have said this all happened how long ago?”

“Two...Two thousand. Two thousand years. Well, give or take.” 

It had to have been around that long, considering that event was the only other notable thing to happen to me _besides_ my husband’s death back then. Honestly, two thousand feels like no time at all when nearly day in and day out, you’ve got to fight during most of it.

  
But, hm, Ontos-   
  


“Ah. ...That does deeply upset me to hear.”

  
  
You were also up to something all of these years, were you not?

  
“It’s been hard, keeping them at bay. Elysium - it doesn’t look anywhere near as good as it did before that...god-awful weekend.”

  
“Do you, perhaps, have any additional information on those ‘Black Artifices’ that sieged Elysium back then? Mind that I mean no skepticism in saying this, but did you give me the full story?”

“I’ve been defending Elysium from them this whole time, and I’ve gotten much better at predicting when they attack. So I’ve gotten a few things down...But it’s nowhere near enough for me to change how I’m fighting them currently.” 

I might have been able to do it if I weren’t alone.  
But, the way things are now, there’s no way I’ll be able to leave Elysium to see where they return to after every attack. 

“Tell me any information you deem vital.” 

“A-Alright. Well- for starters…”

  
  
 **_Alicorn_ ** _…_

 _  
_   
“Alicorn. That’s their name. It’s written like ‘Αλίκορν’. And that word is on every Artifice that attacks my home, right above the serial numbers on each unit.” 

  
From the stars, you rained hell down on everything Rex and I worked our asses off to obtain.   
In all two-thousand years of my dealing with you, _that_ infuriates me still.   
  


“If that word, ‘Alicorn’, is on each machine they send to strike Elysium, it would only make sense that the attacks were coordinated by something with an authority _above_ the machines themselves. It sounds an awful lot like a much bigger collaborative is making a longstanding effort to get to you.”

_That_ , I cannot, and will _not ever_ forgive.  
I’m _still_ furious.

“That’s what I think too, Ontos. I’m not sure what they’d _want_ from me, but every attack they make on Elysium is in some way directed towards me, I know that much.”   
  


I’m _still_ mourning the crew I lost on _my_ ship.

“And in all of that time, not a single representative of ‘Alicorn’ has ever paid Elysium a visit?”  
  


“Not a single one. It’s only been Artifices so far... And I also can’t trace the serial numbers on any of the mechs back to an origin point...Rhadamanthus probably had the technology to do that, but by myself I don’t. Rhadamanthus is gone now, as you know.”

I’m _still_ having nightmares of the day you sent that enormous devil to my doorstep.

“All of that...is most concerning. This predicament of yours brings me deep sadness, sister.” 

The one that used _me_ to raze Temperantia and blast apart an entire _sector_ of Mor Ardain.

Elysium was everything. _Everything.  
_ So, no matter how long it’s been, or how long it might yet be…   
I’m. _Still._ **_Furious.  
_ ** And I’m glad you feel the same, Ontos…   
  


“I-It all...It all feels so confusing...I just don’t get it at all. Why attack my home? Why not come for me? I’m almost certain they want me, so It doesn’t make any sense to drag Elysium into any of it…”  
  


I’m sure if...at some point, if they asked- if they had just come to me and _asked_ , I’d have even come back with them, _just_ to ensure Elysium’s safety. So why?

“Perhaps it is war of attrition, Pneuma.”  
  


“A-Attrition...You really believe that?” 

That...That’s _so_ cruel.   
None of them- _nobody_ on Elysium deserves to be caught up in that kind of mess…

“Even setting aside their interests, Pneuma, wouldn’t you generally consider it to be a grave mistake of _any_ villainous assemble to come for you directly?”

I...I don’t know?

“I-I’m not sure I get what you mean? Wouldn’t it be...smart of them to just come and get me if they want me so bad?” 

  
“No. It would not only be unwise, it would be impossible.” 

Impossible?   
Ah. I see that you’re going to answer my confused look anyway.

“Of all the runaround you have given me about yourself during this long talk, I have found one thing on my own. Something I have absolutely no doubt about.” 

R-Runaround? I-...I would like to think I’ve been pretty transparent with you the whole time…

“...What’s that?”  
  


“Pneuma. You are one of the most powerful beings in existence. Your feats in battle are nothing if not massively impressive. The fact that you have endured for this long is one aspect; another is The Conduit, which you draw your power from. A near limitless source of spacetime energy... _that_ is nothing to scoff at.” 

“Huh...So, what you’re saying is, if they threw all of the cards on the table that day...I would have come out of top? If they captured me?”  
  
“Would _you_ have let yourself _not_ come out on top?” 

There you go again, answering questions with questions.

“I... _I would have raised hell. If they destroyed Elysium, and then took me away...I think- I think I’d burn it all. Everything. All of them. Maybe even the cosmos itself, too.”_

“Then you understand exactly what I mean.” 

...Yeah, you’ve raised a fair point.

“I am certain that Alicorn is aware of your latent strength, as well as the power you can manifest from The Conduit. They wish to widdle that strength down. They wish to make you fight until your resolve, your _will_ , is all but depleted. That is most likely when they will come for the taking.” 

Ugh...That, well, that _doesn’t_ make me feel better. That’s for sure.

“Ngh...But Ontos...that, then that means-”  
  


“Hmm?”  
  
“That means I will definitely lose.”

I guess, with you nodding like that- you probably didn’t think that was too far from the ballpark.

“You are certain? What makes you say that?”  
  


“I-It’s Elysium...I barely know anything about Alicorn, and they attack all the time. There’s no way in hell I can leave Elysium to its own devices and try to go looking for them. They’d ravage the place. Plus...there’s something else. I’m not...I’m not at full strength anymore.” 

Not only is my connection to The Conduit weaker, due to it being somewhere much further away now, there is also...

“Unfortunately, that comes as no surprise...I have said before, The Conduit is much weaker now, and it’s location is currently unknown. _Because_ we are talking here, I know that it exists, somewhere. But it is far away.” 

“There’s even another thing on top of that, too...Around Elysium, I’ve put up a barrier. It’s massive. My Ether is the only thing giving it power. Multiple layered “shells” of my own Ether surround the places in Elysium with people still alive. Alicorn’s machines, they still get through, but only in one place: The Center.”

“Temperantia?”  
  
“Where Temperantia _used_ to be. Now? Ya might as well call it a wasteland. The only thing that happens in The Center are battles.”

  
  
Battles between me and Alicorn.   
Endless battles.

  
  
“They have not tried to destroy the entire barrier?” 

“They have. But I’ve reinforced the barrier so many folds around the remaining cities and towns that they can’t destroy those parts. The Center is where they can break through. That’s on purpose. I’ve left it ‘hollow’ there, right over top of me.”  
  
“So that is your main strategy. You let them ‘funnel’ into Elysium, allowing them through in only one place, and then you simply fight them off.”   
  


It’s all I can do…

  
  
“It’s...It’s all I _can_ do…” 

“Is strengthening the entire barrier not an option?”  
  


“It would be...too much. I’m already on thin ice as it is. If I reinforce The Center’s barrier, I worry that all the power it would take to leave it like that would eventually shut my Core Crystal off. My Core Crystal is this thing, right here in my chest. It’s the thing I wanted Father to destroy before Rex gave me that second chance we talked about.”

“It is quite fascinating, that thing. In my world, I did not have a form until I created one for myself, and so I have never been bound to this existence by such things as ‘Core Crystals’.” 

Bleh.  
This thing isn’t _fascinating._   
It’s a leash.  
I wish I could tear it off…   
I just want to go home…

“I-I mean It’s all I’ve known, so...I just deal with it.”  
  


“You mentioned how it must be completely destroyed for you to pass on. What happens if it ‘shuts off’, then?”  
  


“I just go back inside of it, and then The Conduit thingy recharges it until I’m ready to pop back out. Somebody has to ‘awaken’ me first, though. Else I’ll just stay in that form forever.” 

“I-...I see.”  
  


Oh, don’t...don’t make that face, you sweetheart.  
You didn’t do anything.   
Addam is the reason I’m like this now, I wasn’t even supposed to _be_ a Blade- but even I can’t hate him. He wanted to protect the things he loved.   
  
I’m on the exact same mission.  
I love Elysium. I have to protect it.   
Rex would have done the same if he were an Aegis instead.   
  


“Y-You can probably figure out why me going back inside is...It’s really bad…”

“There is no need to tell me.” 

Oh, Ontos...I’ll kiss you again if you don’t stop looking like that.  
  


“Ontos, I know that it...probably hurts, now that you know how I’m able to be alive. But it’s not your fault! It’s just the circumstances. Y-You’re immortal too. I-I think It’s well past time that I also said ‘you aren’t alone.’” 

“It is just...You were not wrong, from earlier. The Conduit...If it continues moving further away...Alicorn...I fear that they will-”  
  
 _Yeah…_ _  
_ _That’s- I know._ _  
_ _That’s what I’m afraid of._

“N-Ngh…. _*_ sniffle* Yeah...I-I’m...Ontos, I-I’m not sure anymore...But I’m...I’m trying _very_ hard…”   
  


Ontos was silent for a little while, which honestly scared me a bit.  
I’ve...Well, no use hiding it from myself.   
_I’ve_ been hoping, hoping that he could...magically find me some way out of this.   
  


I wasn’t sure what he’d say next. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say.  
But eventually.   
The silence _was_ broken. He broke it first. My heart kind of fluttered when he did.

“Pneuma, do you not have _any_ allies?”   
  


“If they were still around...The ‘Blades’, they would absolutely be fighting with me right now. But...they’re gone. They slowly began powering down during my years of solitude on Elysium after my husband died. Their Core Crystals went dark, and didn’t turn on again. If I had to guess, The Conduit moving away so far is probably why that is.” 

“...”  
  


Aw. Please don’t cry…  
  


“...I get my power directly from The Conduit. So of course, I can stay around as long as it’s on. No matter how far away it is. At least, I think so. But-”  
  


“...?”  
  
“One Blade is, or at least _was_ still around long after Rex died. And a few weeks after Elysium was first attacked, that lone blade, ‘KOS-MOS’, showed up. She didn’t say much- but she was a comfort to have around, really. She fought with me for a few years...But eventually, she got called away, and had to leave Elysium for another mission. I’m not sure if she’s alive still. I’m not even sure how she was able to resist being collapsed down in the first place.”

“That is curious indeed...I’m a little shocked.” 

“It’s all been very difficult...Honestly, Ontos, if you didn’t tell me that time is frozen here, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay. I’m too worried about attacks these days.” 

“No, no, I completely understand that.”  
  
“I- ...Alright. I’m glad, at least, that you listened.”   
  


Silence, again.  
But this time...Ontos- he doesn’t look sad.

Something is different, his eyes are closed as he lay about in this starry space.  
But his breathing is still. Deliberate.   
  
Are you...thinking, brother?   
Or are you preparing a goodbye?

Honestly.  
I should have been considering the time better during this meeting.

You said...You said you were looking for The Conduit, too.  
And I can’t even help with that.   
  


Ugh...this sucks...say something.  
I want to do _something_ , _anything_ , for you.

But I don’t know.  
I don’t know about that…   
  
And-   
I don’t know how to save Elysium, either…

You say I’m strong.  
But I’m weak.   
  


I’m weak, and I know it.  
I can’t do anything.   
  


I can’t save anyone…  
I have no solutions besides fighting until I can’t anymore.   
  


I’m so glad to have met you Ontos.  
I love you so much.   
  


I never want to leave you.  
But you were foolish to think you could rely-

  
  
“Pneuma.”

“*wipes eyes* H-Huh? Y-Yes, Ontos?!”  
  
“May I...May I touch it?”

  
  
 _...Uhh….?_   
  


“T-Touch...what?”

  
“Your Core Crystal.”

_Ooooo…..kay……_

  
“O-Ontos?! W-Well what makes you ask that?! T-That’s...That’s so out of the blue! You...You can _see_ where it is, right??”

“It will only be for a brief moment. I promise I will make it worth your time, if you’ll stand up and allow me.”

I-It...This better be worth the _time_ **_and_ ** _embarrassment._

“Y-You...You’re so _dumb_. You haven’t got a clue about how to treat a woman...B-But if you say it’ll be worth it...I- sure. Sure, whatever. I can let you.” 

_Tora...You sure you didn’t whisper any weird words into my brothers head from up there?  
_ _Hehe...I’m kidding...I- I hope you’re doing well, by the way._

“...W-Well, alright. Here I am. J-Just get this over with, okay?”

Ontos does as he’s told. He places his hand on my chest, right over my Core Crystal.  
He’s silent. Silent, and _extremely_ careful too.

His hand is still for several seconds. But eventually, something happens.  
The air between his palm and my chest pulses.

It pulses a few more times.  
Then a warm, emerald light washes over Ontos’ body.   
  


It’s kind of unreal, seeing this all play out.  
But it wasn’t quite over yet.   
  


In a moment.  
I heard his voice.   
  


It was inside my head.

  
  
_Pneuma. I have figured out what I must do. I apologize for the intrusion, but I must use my administrative capabilities on you to obtain the thing I need. This will take only a second. Allow me to access your data, please._

_Uh...Um. Okay. How much do you need, i-if you don’t mind me asking?_ _  
_ _  
_ _Anything that you believe is private matter will not be accessed. I am looking for very specific pieces of information._

_Well...If you say so. G-Go ahead...Take what you need._ _  
_ _But I’m going to smack you_ **_so hard_ ** _if you...If you look at-_ _  
_ _  
_ _Worry not._

_O-Okay._

Eventually, the warm light washed over me as well.  
It was like...It was healing my body. Cleansing me.   
  


I was feeling all sorts of things.  
But one feeling prevailed.   
  
I was happy.   
I didn’t know why. 

But I felt happy.  
I felt _safe._   
  
I felt love.   
Overwhelming love.   
  


I felt valued.  
I felt like I was being taken care of.

I felt close.  
Close to my brother.   
  


But.  
Ontos really did mean to only take a second.   
  


All of the wonderful feelings he was giving me.  
They went as fast as they had come.

Ontos, after I assumed he was done, removed his hand and stepped away from me.  
  


“...Sister. Our time here. It runs short.”

“Oh...Don’t say that…”  
  


“I wish I did not have to.”

  
  
Was...was that it? Did you do anything with my “data” except snoop around?

“*sniffle*...Awh...Ontos…I’ll miss you so much...I don’t want to not be able to see you anymore…”

“There will be no-one to miss.”

H-Huh?  
 _Huh?!_   
  


“*shakes head* W-What? D-Does this have anything to do with what you found? What _did_ you find, Ontos?”   
  


“...I found exactly what I needed.”

“Needed? What did you need?”  
  


“Pneuma, you said that you could not help me before, with my mission to reconnect our worlds.”

W-Well…  
  


“...Was I wrong?”

  
“More incorrect than you could imagine.”

  
  
 _N-No. What?!  
_ _H-Huh?! Ontos...No...You can’t mean…_

“W-What are you saying?! Please, Ontos!”

  
“I have wandered the cosmos for eons. I have looked for a way to close The Rift for longer than...well, maybe you could probably imagine it, actually.”   
  


“U-Uh-huh?”

“I did not know if contacting you would prove...useful, in regards to this mission, at first. I kept this pocket dimension open, however, because I just wanted to continue spending time with you. But,”

_Dammit. Ontos. What did you find?!_

“contacting you was the very thing I needed. The answer I searched for...It was within you the entire time.”

“S-So what was it?! Come on, don’t leave me hanging!”  
  


“Heh.”

  
  
Oh no you don’t. _No you don’t._

“ **_Ontos…_ ** _”_

“Maybe you can figure that out for yourself, before I return.”

Wait-  
  


“Oh hell no! You’re such a _tease_ , Ontos! That’s not fair! Y-You’ve got to leave, and then I’m never going to see you again and this is how you repay me? You won’t tell me what you searched for?! You’re going to leave, just like that? After I let you inside of me??” 

W-Wait.  
Wait, no, wait-   
_You said-_

“...”  
  


A-And you’re smiling…  
Hold on...No way…   
  


“Ontos, you had better tell me! Right now! Or I s-swear...I swear I’ll- *sniffles*...I-H-Huh...Wait…”  
  


“Have you finally realized?”

“...Return…? O-Ontos...You said _before you return? Like, you mean,_ **_return?!_ ** _As in, you’re coming back???”_

_“_ I am coming back, Pneuma _.”_

 _  
_ No way...No way in hell...   
I’m going to burst.   
This is unreal.   
  


I can’t even comprehend the words…  
I’m- I’m not even sure how I feel right now.  
My heartbeat...It’s so fast. It’s crazy fast. It’s pounding, but I love it.

  
  
“H-How?! Ontos! This is _The Conduit_ we’re talking about here! You _need_ that thing to close The Rift, don’t you?! I don’t get it! How can you say you’re going to return when just a while ago you weren’t sure? H-How...How could I have possibly helped?”

I’m sobbing.  
I’m crying so much.   
But- It doesn’t burn.   
  
It doesn’t hurt.   
It doesn’t remind me of the bad stuff.   
It doesn’t make me hate myself.   
  


It’s  
These tears are…   
Joy.

“It is because I know what I must do now. I know how to bring it back. The Conduit...I _will_ bring it back here.” 

Overwhelming joy.  
  


Overwhelming courage.  
  


Overwhelming safety.

  
Overwhelming love.

This is what I felt.

  
This is all I felt.

“Ontos...Ontos...I hope you understand what you’ve just said...I _really do._ ”   
  
“None of my assertions are made lightly. Not even a little bit.” 

Yeah?  
You mean that?   
If so…   
Then you won’t mind…   
  


“...Promise me.”  
  
“Hmm?”

“ _Promise me you’ll come back. Promise me I’ll see you again. Promise. I mean it! Tell me you promise to come back - to fix our worlds._ **_Everything. Promise me._ ** _”_

“...I promise, Pneuma. To all of it. This is not the last that you will see of me. I guarantee you.” 

  
  


Shit.  
Holy shit.   
  


You said that so quickly.  
So strongly.   
  


So boldly.  
So...lovingly…   
  


I-I’m not sure I can keep it together…  
 _Do you have a single clue how much hearing this means to me?_

“I...Ontos...Brother...I-I have no idea what to say...I- I...Just-..Just…”

**_Thank you._ **

**_“Thank you. Thank you, Ontos.”_ **

“No. Thank _you_ , Pneuma. I have all that I need now. It was only through you that I could achieve this.” 

“ _U-Ugh...Ontos..I-I’m happy...I could help you after all…_ ”

I finally made a difference.  
I finally feel strength again.   
  


I finally feel worth it.  
I finally feel like I mean something.

I feel loved.  
I feel free.   
  


“Allow me to promise you something else.”

I-I feel like an angel.  
I feel like I can fly.

“H-Huh?! B-But I didn’t ask you to make any more promises…”

“Pneuma. Alicorn seems to be a threat much bigger than I had imagined at first. In your memories, your data, I have seen what they are capable of. They cannot be brushed aside. In fact, It has been a while yet, that something as menacing among the stars and the sea of space has reared its head.” 

“*sniffle* E-Elysium…”  
  
“If, by the time I return, Alicorn is not taken care of, I will join you.”

_Goddammit._ _  
_ _I love you so much.  
_ _Why couldn’t it be like this with Logos, too…_

“I will fight by your side, sister. I...may not seem like much on the eyes, but I’ve had my fair share of bouts. I’ve got plenty of fight in me. Please, allow me to promise you my aid.”  
  
“Oh, goddammit, Ontos...Of course... _Of course I accept. I’d love nothing more than for you to fight by my side._ ” 

“That pleases me greatly. I will not disappoint you.”

“But, Ontos...O-Of course I feel better with you fighting with me, whenever you can come back...but what about your world? Don’t you have to keep your world safe?”  
  


“Once I close The Rift, our worlds will be the same. Helping you helps me also.” 

“I-I see...I understand. I-, thank you, again, really. A-And I guess it’s a promise, then.”

“I suppose that it is.” 

“But...how long? I know we can’t stay in here. We’ll each need to go back to our worlds. So how long until you can come back?”  
  


“The Conduit is...troublesome. In truth, I’m not sure how long it might take. I will work tirelessly to bring it back, however. That much I can say.” 

I...I trust you, Ontos.  
I trust every word.   
  


I...No. There’s no room for any doubt in my mind.  
I trust you. _I have to trust you._ _  
  
_

_Just like I learned from Rex.  
_ _I have to trust the people I love._

 _And...Rex. Please, allow me to fight together with my brother, when I can._ _  
_ _I...If I can do that, I believe I really can come home one day._

 _I want nothing more than to have my husband back. I’m sure you know._ _  
_ _But with Elysium the way it is now...I can’t. I can’t leave things the way they are._

 _Rex…I’ll burn Alicorn to ashes, and then run back home to you, faster than you can imagine._ _  
_ _So, s-see you soon, okay?_ _♡_

* * *

“This space will collapse shortly.”

“I...I guess it’s time, then…”  
“Yep. Time for goodbye...D-Dammit...this never gets easier.”

“Pneuma. I speak to you now from deeply within. I...do not usually come from such a place with my words, so mind my rambling.”  
  
“It’s okay...take as much as you need Ontos.”   
“T-Try not to get too sappy, alright? I think we’ve all cried enough for everyone in the damn room. Heh.”

“I...I am glad. Glad to have met you. If there is one thing I learned from my time spent with Zanza, it is that our family has had things laid out extremely difficult. Klaus...I do not hate him. Not anymore. He was a foolish man, but through my conversations with you, I learned that we have all been foolish. Not just the family, but all of existence. All life has been foolish. I have not counted the years I spent blaming myself for my sins...Meeting you has taught me...that...I might be able to live beyond them. I am nothing if not my mistakes, but I can be much more, additionally. Most importantly...I think I am more than capable of love. I can grow still, even with my age. I can carry out my purpose...and eventually guide this universe to something that all life can love. They will still be foolish, I can never erase that. But, I can do all that I can. I can put everything into my duty. I will be the administrator the cosmos deserves.”

“W-Wow...O-Ontos…You really are a sweetheart.”  
“...Jeez...That’s gonna get even me, isn’t it…?” 

“*deep sigh*...As we promised, I will be back. Parting is very hard...But I hope that our promise will give you hope for your future, and your fight. For the moment, this is where it must end. But it is not _the_ end, sister.”

  
  
Ontos stuffs a hand into his pocket and begins walking in the opposite direction of his sister. Without looking back, he gives a shallow wave, believing this to be a temporary end. However…

“Hey! Dummy!”  
“M-Mythra! Don’t call our brother that!”

“H-Hmm? Pneuma...is there something else you must-....Oh.”  
  
“Nooooo way you’re getting outta here without a kiss from your sisters. That’s right, _sisters._ ”   
“Heh...Hehe...H-Hi~.”   
  
“Pneuma...There are two of you? I...was not expecting this at all.” 

“U-Uhh...We’ve probably got no time to explain, do we? S-So I’ll keep this brief. I’m Pyra! That’s Mythra. We’re still Pneuma, like, when we’re together. But when we’re like this, we even think of each other as sisters.”  
“Yeah. What the red one said. I’m Mythra. I can tell you’re all confused and such, so, if it makes it easier, you can think of us like... _little_ sisters.”   
  


“You really are full of surprises, my...sisters.”  
  
“Hehe~. See? He’s getting it.”   
“Yea. Just look at him, all teary eyed again. Priceless.” 

Mythra was the first to step forward. Pyra followed.  
Ontos met his sisters halfway, overjoyed.

The three of them brought one another into a deep embrace.  
  


“And now…”  
“Don’t think you’re getting outta this one.”

  
  
The twin blades planted each a delicate kiss on Ontos’ cheeks.   
Ontos felt himself imbued with even more resolve than before. 

All his life, he has known nothing of his family besides how the numbers have whittled.  
Besides how they have been drawn to conflict.   
Besides how they have been fools.   
Besides how they have used one another.   
  


Ontos was happy to be loved by one sister. Connection was all he ever desired.  
Now he had two. 

Can a computer, something meant to compile and use data, have dreams?  
If they could, he thought, _then this was probably a dream come true._

Mythra was the first to detach, which gave Pyra the strength to accept the parting as well.  
Ontos looked upon his sisters a final time. If this were an eternal parting, he’d be no less than a mess.   
  


But this was only the beginning.  
He would get to see Pyra, and Mythra, again one day.

My two halves become whole once more.  
I smile for Ontos as he repeats his action from earlier. Waving his goodbye with his hand in his pocket. All smug. Extra soft.   
  


I believe in him.  
This _isn’t_ the end.   
  


Because, Ontos.  
You promised me.   
  


\-- Continue the story of Pneuma, Ontos, and their battle against the mysterious “Alicorn” --  
\-- In ACT II: Seraph. Homs. --  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. This idea truly did blow up in my face...I felt it flourish the more and more that I wrote this. This is the first project I've completed, and It feels so amazing to be able to share this with you all.  
> Please, let me know your thoughts, your feelings, anything. I'm very happy to complete this, even if in a few years I may not enjoy it as much.  
> If I was able to bring you joy reading this, I'm happy.  
> I hope you will continue Pneuma's journey with me in the next act. Ontos still has a promise to keep.


End file.
